Leaving Hinata
by Tezza1502
Summary: Welcome to the dark side of Love Hina. We have cookies!
1. Chapter 1

LEAVING HINATA

By: Tezza1502

Disclaimer: I'm going to take you on a journey. A journey into sight and, well, just sight really. -SHRUGS- The owner of this journey, however, is not me. It's Ken Akamatsu. He and his affiliates own Love Hina. I'm just taking you on a journey.

Notes: I'm planning for this to be a four- or five-parter about when Keitaro decides he's had enough. It's been done before, I know. Often quite well. It's not going to be pretty. Um, set about six months after the final anime special. Obviously, Keitaro will be **O**ut **O**f **C**haracter here. And expect a lemon in later chapters. **Do not **expect it to be updated regularly.

* * *

DAY ONE

Haruka was wiping the outside tables in preparation for opening the teahouse that morning when she stopped and took an impromptu break. _'It's good to be the boss, sometimes.' _She grinned to herself as she lit up. Kentaro Sakata looked longingly at what she held in her hand for a moment, before a scowl from her sent him scurrying off to complete his duties.

Leaning on a table, she breathed out a cloud of smoke and took in the crispness of the winter's morning. A light snow had fallen the night before, dusting the ground as far as she could see. The bare branches of the nearby trees hung heavy with snow and ice. A vague dot could be seen in the sky, heading in her direction.

'_Huh?' _She grunted as the dot grew larger. A faint screaming sound could be heard and arms and legs could be discerned flailing about. Very quickly, the flying person came into sharp focus then disappeared in a spray of white as they impacted on the ground near her.

Haruka walked over and peered down the side of the shallow crater. _'I wonder what he did this time?' _She asked herself quietly. Seeing movement, she waited until the person dragged themselves upright.

"Dare I ask?" She almost smirked, having long ago become used to sights like this.

The man stared at her for a moment, as if not entirely sure who she was.

"Keitaro?" Haruka raised an eyebrow, wondering if the girls had actually managed to damage him this time. "You alright?"

"Nothing."

"What?"

"In answer to your question, I did nothing." He shivered. Haruka realised that he was still in his nightclothes, and that they were thoroughly soaked after his landing in the snow.

"…right." Now she was curious. He normally springs up from a hit like this and runs back up there to apologise straight away to whoever nailed him. For him to just stand there like that and do nothing was new. "Well, come on inside and we'll get you warmed up. We'll talk after." She invited, gesturing for him to follow her indoors.

"No." She stopped and stared at him after that flat declaration. "I will come back down in a couple of hours, Haruka. We'll talk then." Ignoring her surprised expression, he crawled out of the impact zone and made his way back up the stairs. His shoulders were slumped and he was limping slightly.

She watched him go with a look of shock still adorning her face. "Oh shit! I think the camels back just broke." She murmured to herself softly. Haruka was now officially worried.

* * *

Entering the Hinata-Sou once again, Keitaro managed to return to his room without bumping into any of the other residents. Walking in and shutting the door, he looked around the bare quarters that been his for the last few years as if committing every crack, repaired patch and worn surface to memory. Very slowly, he fell to his knees and began to weep into his hands. "I can't do this any more." He sobbed quietly, desperate not to draw any attention to himself. He received enough scorn from the others without adding _this _to the list of his perceived weaknesses.

After a few minutes, he pulled himself together and wiped his tears away. He then looked at his reflection in the mirror. He did not leave the room until all traces of his minor breakdown were gone from his face.

* * *

Making his way downstairs, he entered the kitchen to find everyone waiting for him.

"'Bout damn time you turned up! Breakfast's getting cold." Naru growled as he took his seat.

"Sorry." He replied without inflection, not looking at her accusing eyes. "I had to get changed after I came back. I fell in the snow."

"Whatever." She dismissed his defence as easily as she dismisses his explanations for the situations he ends up in.

With that, they all tucked into the meal before them.

A few minutes passed before Keitaro could no longer contain himself. "Naru?"

"What?"

"Why did you hit me?"

Naru stopped eating and stared at him as if he was an idiot. "Wasn't it obvious?"

"No."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine! For those of us who are in denial, you were in Motoko's room first thing in the morning, doing something perverted." She said in a tone that suggested that it was obvious to anyone who had not failed to get into Toudai more than once. Watching him to see if he was going to say anything, she huffed disgustedly and started eating again when nothing was immediately forthcoming.

Keitaro stared at her incredulously for a long minute. He knew that his girlfriend had a hair-trigger, but this was bordering on insane. "I was in Motoko's room at her request!" He finally managed to squeeze the words out. "She grabbed me as I was on my way to the bathroom and dragged me upstairs to show me a part of the wall that needed fixing."

"Yeah, right." Naru contradicted him. "So how come I didn't see her, huh?"

"I don't know?" He retorted, starting to become angry. "She was standing right there next to me when you punched me. Maybe you should get your eyes checked." The whole table fell silent.

"_What did you say!_" Naru snarled.

He ignored her growing fury. "And if you didn't see her then, _surely _you would have spotted her as she followed me back into her room after you decked me to blast me out the window when I fell into her laundry basket." He continued, casting a dirty look across the table at Motoko. "THAT was not my fault, either. Did you really need to do that to me?" He demanded.

"Yes. And do not use that tone of voice against me, or you will taste my wrath again." She countered.

"Like you need an excuse." He muttered.

"What was that?"

"I SAID; like you need an excuse to hit me. Either of you." He stared from one to the other.

Everyone looked at him, stunned. Naru was the first to react.

"BAKA!" She yelled as she backhanded him off his chair onto the floor. "Maybe if YOU could control your perverted urges around us, we wouldn't have to punish you so much!" She shouted as she stood over him.

Motoko joined her in standing over him, drawing her sword and pointing it at his throat. "Be careful of whom you accuse, Urashima. You might not like how they choose to defend themselves." She hissed.

"Whatever." He said dismissively and got back on his feet, ignoring the cut he received to his chin from Motoko's blade when she did not move it out of the way fast enough. "Are you finished yet?" He looked at them. When all they did was stare at him with confusion, he shrugged and sat back on his chair. Picking up his chopsticks, he continued eating as if the last five minutes had not happened.

"Um, Kei?" Kitsune spoke for the first time. "Are you gonna see to that?"

"What?" He enquired around a mouthful of food.

She pointed at her own chin, then at his. "You're um… bleeding."

"Am I?" He felt his own chin. Looking at the blood for a second, he shrugged again and wiped his fingers on a napkin. "Huh! How about that? I never even felt it." Noticing the queasy looks from the other girls, he reassured them. "Don't worry, it'll stop in a minute. Besides, I've had much worse." Patting the napkin against his wound until it stopped flowing, he wadded it up and placed it on a side plate. "See! All healed up."

"Uh-huh." Kitsune agreed uneasily. This was not the Keitaro they knew. "Are you feeling alright?"

"No worse than usual." He replied in an eerily calm voice just as he popped the last morsel of his food through his lips. Wiping his mouth, he turned to the cook. "Shinobu, once again you have excelled yourself. It was delicious!" He enthused. Getting to his feet, he looked around the table. "Ladies." He nodded before exiting the room on a wave of silence.

Going upstairs to his room again, he pulled a mobile phone out of his bag and punched in a number. Eventually, a bleary voice answered.

"_Yo, who be ringin' this early?"_

"Hiatani? It's me, man. Sorry for getting you up."

"_Dude! Wassup?"_

"I need a favour."

"_Name it!"_

"Can I bunk down with you guys for a bit? Just 'till I get myself organised."

"…_finally hit the wall, huh?"_

"Yeah."

"_Dude, me an' Shirai always thought living with a house full of hot chicks would be a dream come true, y'know!"_ Hiatani said in a slightly envious tone. Despite knowing how Keitaro was treated by his tenants, it was a hard thought for those two to let go of.

"More like a bloody nightmare." He countered. "So, how about it?"

"_As long as you don't mind sleeping on the couch, not a prob!"_

"Great! I'll be there some time this afternoon." He gushed with relief.

"_Anything for a friend. You know that." _Hiatani replied easily. _"I've got a shift after lunch, so I'll let Shirai know when he wakes up to expect you." _He yawned. _"Later!"_

Keitaro got in a heartfelt, "Thanks." before the line went dead. Sighing, he felt the first of many weights falling from his shoulders. "Part one done. Now to pack and tell Haruka what's going on." Shaking off a chill, he set about gathering his possessions.

* * *

Downstairs, the girls stared at the doorway he had walked out through.

"Damn! Just how hard did you two nail him this morning?" Kitsune asked in awe.

"No harder than usual." Naru replied softly, wondering to herself if indeed she had finally done something permanent to him this time.

"Yes. He took a little longer in returning, but that was the only difference from the norm." Motoko added, thinking along the same lines as Naru.

"Does this mean he's going to flip out and come after us with a machete, like in those slasher movies Kitsune lets us watch when you guys are out?" Sarah asked excitedly. Naru and Motoko both turned to glare at Kitsune, who was doing her level best to disappear down under the table.

"I can't believe you let them watch that crap Kitsune. And no, he's _not _Sarah." Naru replied through clenched teeth to a thoroughly disappointed Sarah.

"Poop! That would've been funny to watch." The young girl pouted, imagining Keitaro running around the Hinata frothing at the mouth, before tripping over something and impaling himself on his weapon of choice.

"That explains Su's recent nightmares." Motoko stalked after Kitsune as she back-pedalled away from them across the floor. "Do you know how hard she can grip when she is scared? I think next time you consider letting them watch one of those…_movies_, I will insist that she spend the night with you." She threatened.

"Okay! Okay! It won't happen again." Kitsune agreed hastily. Before Motoko had moved in, she was the one Su came to at night. "No more slasher-flicks!" With a last worried glance behind her, she bolted from the room.

Watching her go, Naru commented, "Still, she has a point. We better keep an eye on the little pervert for a few days. Just until he goes back to normal."

"Very well." Motoko agreed. "We shall watch to see if he is truly unhurt."

Nodding to each other, they left the dining room.

* * *

Keitaro searched his room one more time to make sure he had not left anything behind, then dragged his suitcase out into the hallway. Shutting the door behind him, he made his way outside as quietly as possible. Being a weekend, most of the tenants were out. However, he knew that the ones still here would be in the hot springs until mid-morning.

Exiting the Hinata-Sou for what he hoped would be the last time, he heaved his meagre belongings down the stairs towards his aunt's teahouse. Rolling it all inside, (and once more giving silent praise to the genius who thought to put little wheels on suitcases.) he plopped his butt on a seat near the bar and waited for Haruka to notice his presence.

Haruka had actually known he was there as soon as he appeared at the doorway. She was grateful for the fact that she had a few customers to serve, as it gave her precious moments to gather her thoughts for what was most likely to be a painful conversation. Unfortunately, it also gave her unwilling employee a chance to reach her nephew first.

"Well, well. Look at what the cat dragged in." Kentaro drawled as he sauntered over. "Come down to cry into your Aunt's tea again?"

Keitaro looked back at him blandly.

Kentaro continued, unperturbed by the lack of response. "What's the matter, Naru reject you again? How many dates have you tried to take her out on now? Six? Seven? Some girlfriend she is! Honestly, I wonder why you bother. Any sane person would have dropped her by now and moved on." He sneered.

"Kentaro?"

"Hm?"

"Fuck off. I'm not in the mood."

Kentaro was outraged. "WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME!!" He demanded, reaching for the front of Keitaro's shirt with the full intention of dragging him to his feet and punching his lights out. _No one _spoke to him like that!

Unfortunately, a heavy blow to the back of the head interrupted his plans. "Ouch! Who-"

"I believe my nephew asked you politely to walk away and leave him alone." Haruka stated, giving him a stare that promised great pain if he did not comply.

"...yeah. Right." Kentaro slunk away, giving Keitaro a sullen look that guaranteed retribution at some future point.

Haruka waited until her reluctant employee was on the other side of the teahouse before returning her attention to her nephew. "Have you finished creating a disturbance now, or is there something else I have to look forward to?" She enquired as she sat down.

"Not really. I just came down to give these to you before I head out." He replied as he dug out a thick leather folder from his shoulder bag. Dropping it onto the table between them, he waited for her to say something.

Haruka looked at it with an almost imperceptible twitch. "And that is?"

"The papers for Hinata-Sou, as you well know." He retorted. "It's all there, as far as I can tell. It's…_they _are all yours again."

"Like hell! The old bat left you in charge, remember." The twitch was becoming more obvious.

"I am giving it to you." He said simply. "Do with it what you want."

Haruka reached into her pocket and drew out a cigarette. Lighting it quickly so Keitaro would not notice her hands shaking, she took a deep drag. "You can't just walk away from your responsibilities like that, you know. That place is _yours_!" She pointed up the hill with the burning cancer-stick.

"I-don't-care." He said in a detached voice.

"What about your tenants? What about Naru? You gonna walk away from them without a word?"

Keitaro nodded, having expecting his Aunt to try that gambit. Reaching into his bag again, he withdrew two letters. "The small one is for Shinobu. The larger one is for Naru. When…IF they come looking for me, hand them over." He slid the envelopes across the table. "I would suggest giving Shinobu's to her away from the others. It will give her a chance to read it in private before the rest of them get a hold of it."

Haruka looked at the letters as if they contained explosives. "Keitaro, can we talk about this? I'm sure that-"

"That WHAT?" He shouted, exhibiting some emotion for the first time since he walked in. "Give it some time? Let it blow over? Apologise? Let things go back to _normal_?" He sobbed. "Gods Haruka, 'normal' is the reason I'm leaving." He wailed, dropping his head into his hands.

Haruka found that she was unable to say anything in the face of her nephews' obvious distress. Platitudes were not going to cut it _this _time.

"I just…I can't take it anymore. I am so _tired _of dealing with all the crap they put me through up there. Of putting on a brave face and not letting them see how much they hurt me." He choked. "I thought once she admitted that she loved me, things would get better. But they haven't. If anything, it's worse than before. We don't kiss. We don't hug. We _barely _touch. We don't talk about anything other than Toudai. Every time I try to get her out on a date, she begs off to go study and then gives me grief about slacking off and trying to drag her down with me. And she _still _refuses to listen to my side of anything."

"Okay, so things aren't working out with Naru. What about the others?" Haruka grasped at the few straws Keitaro was leaving her to work with.

"HAH!" He snorted. "Motoko still thinks that a female dorm is no place for a man, despite all the things I have done for her. Su is determined to work out why I can survive everything that gets thrown at me, and won't be satisfied until I break. Kitsune is becoming more daring in her efforts to drain my bank account. As you can imagine, that does wonders for my life expectancy when Naru or Motoko finds her draped over me. As does Mutsumi's fainting spells. No matter where I am, she manages to somehow find me and swoon onto me at exactly the wrong time. Sarah still likes to use me as a way to break things. And Shinobu…" His diatribe falters when he reaches the young cook. "When Shinobu reads her letter, she will understand my reasons for leaving." He finishes quietly.

"So what? You're just throwing away everything to run off into the fog?"

"NO!" Keitaro looked as if she had just slapped him. "I will complete my studies at Toudai. The only thing that is going to change is my home address." He chuckled without humour as a thought occurred to him. "Mum and Dad will be happy when they hear about this. I am finally leaving the nest completely. No more help from _any _of my family. Sink or swim, I'm finally standing on my own two feet." He gave Haruka a tired grin. "The most ironic bit about all this is that without coming here and going through all the crap that I have, I wouldn't have had the guts to do it."

Watching her nephew as he talked, Haruka realised that the girls had finally driven him away for good, and that no amount of cajoling from her would change that. "You really _are _going to walk away from here, aren't you." She stated in a sad tone.

"Can you honestly tell me that any of them apart from Shinobu will miss me for long?" He challenged her.

"One or two of them, yes." She answered sarcastically.

"And how long will it be before I stop healing, do you think?" He continued pushing her. "I have already been seriously injured once, despite my 'abilities'. How long before one of them gets lucky and does something permanent."

"…I don't know." Haruka replied reluctantly.

"And neither do I. That's why I am leaving." He concluded sadly. "Before one of them does something permanent."

"That's not all of it." Haruka mused after a moment. "Not by a long shot."

"No." He agreed amicably. "But that's all I am going to tell you for now. The rest, I'll talk with you about when it doesn't hurt as much." He looked at her miserably.

Haruka, recognising a lost battle when she saw it, decided to let him go without further argument. _'Maybe after he's had some time to himself, he'll be more amenable to returning.' _She reasoned. "Got a place to go?" She asked.

When he heard that, Keitaro breathed a sigh of relief. His Aunt had accepted his decision after all. "Yeah. Hiatani and Shirai are willing to put me up for a bit. Just until I find my own place."

Haruka frowned at that. '_Uh-oh. How long has he been planning this?' _"Got an address for me? In case of emergencies."

"Here." He handed over a piece of paper. "This is my mobile number."

She glanced at it before slipping it into her apron pocket. "Don't trust me, or something?" She asked in a slightly hurt tone.

He winced at hearing that. "You, I trust. Kitsune or Su however…" He let the sentence dangle as his Aunt nodded belatedly.

"You're right. Those little sneaks would not be adverse to tossing my room for it, despite the risks involved." Haruka said, planning to set booby-traps about her private quarters anyway. Despite the fact that it will be the truth, none of them will believe her when she tells them that she honestly does not know where their now former _Kanrinin _is.

"Well, that's it." He stood up. "Thanks for always being willing to let me bend your ear from time to time, Haruka. I'll come by in a few days to pick up any personal mail that may arrive." Gathering his belongings, he started for the door. Haruka followed him. "Remember; big envelope for Naru. Smaller one for Shinobu."

Haruka pulled them out and looked at them. "Why is Naru's all stiff?" She asked curiously.

Keitaro scratched the back of his head. "Well, I figure her first reaction will most likely be to try and tear it to shreds before looking at it, so I laminated it."

Haruka could not help herself. She burst out laughing. Looking at her oddly for a moment, Keitaro joined her in a small chuckle before sobering. "See you in a week, Haruka."

She watched him turn away before impulsively giving him a word of advice. "Be careful kiddo. It's not all hugs and puppies out there." She whispered.

"I know. Thank you." He whispered back. "Bye."

Watching him walk towards the station, Haruka finally realised that at no point during the morning had he called her 'Aunt'. For no reason that she could put her finger on, this made her sad. "Stay safe Keitaro. Don't become a stranger." Wiping away some dust that had gotten in her eyes, she returned to her days work a little more depressed than when she started. _'Mum's gonna kill me when she hears about this.'_

* * *

About lunch time Shinobu was walking around the Inn, searching for the other tenants. It was time for the midday meal. Having found the others, she finally ended up outside Keitaro's room. "S-sempai?" She said through the door as she knocked lightly. Hearing nothing, she repeated herself a little louder. When there was still no reply, she bounced from foot to foot with indecision. She could not invade his privacy without a reason. However, she wanted to check if he was okay after this mornings escapades.

Her conundrum was solved when Kitsune sauntered past. "What's up, kiddo?"

"Um, it's time for lunch, but Sempai isn't answering." She replied.

"Uh-huh." The Fox drawled. Testing the door, she found that it was unlocked and slid open easily. Ignoring Shinobu's protests, she peeked inside. "Yo Kei! You in here?" Stepping into the room, she glanced about and noticed all of his things were missing. "What the-?"

"What is it? What's happened to Sempai?" Shinobu pushed passed her and froze as she realised the same thing Kitsune did. "Sempai's…gone!" She whimpered.

* * *

Five minutes later, all the residents were gathered in the dining room.

"What do you mean, HE'S GONE!" Naru shouted in Kitsune's face.

Kitsune weathered this without difficulty. She had survived her best friend's outbursts before. "Just that. His room is empty. Everything that was his is gone. And he's not on the grounds anywhere. Shinobu checked while she was gathering the rest of us."

"So the coward once again shows his true colours." Motoko intoned.

Shinobu suddenly turned away and headed outside.

"Where you goin'?" Kitsune asked.

"To see Haruka. She might know where Sempai is!" Shinobu replied over her shoulder.

Everyone looked at each other, shrugged, and then followed her down to the teahouse.

As the small group entered, Haruka spared them a tight glare while directing them to an out of the way table large enough to seat all of them. Returning momentarily, she didn't give them a chance to speak before unloading on them. "What the _hell _did you lot do to my nephew!"

"W-what do you mean?" Naru stuttered. When Haruka gets angry, everyone walks on eggshells. "We just came down to see if-"

"He's gone." Haruka interrupted sharply. "And as far as I can tell, he's not coming back!"

Silence greeted that statement. Motoko was the first to speak up.

"Finally! The purity of Hinata-Sou is restored!" She crowed. Her good feelings lasted approximately two seconds. "Ack!"

Haruka had grabbed her by the throat and dragged her across the table. "If I _ever _hear that crap out of your mouth again, _little girl_, your precious school will need a new heir. _Got it!_" The older woman whispered menacingly into her face before shoving the wannabe samurai back in her seat. "You selfish brats have no idea what you've just set in motion." She growled.

"What do you mean?" Naru asked, wanting information while trying not to set the woman off. "And why are you worried, anyway? Keitaro has done this before. He'll be back inside a week." Her smug look fell away as she noticed Haruka's cold expression. "Won't he?"

"Not this time." She snorted. "You didn't see his face or hear his voice. Whatever you lot did, it pushed him over the brink." To prove her point, Haruka withdrew the ownership papers for the Hinata from her apron and showed them. "He handed these to me right before he left."

As they all leant in to get a better look at them, the chill of knowing you may have made a BIG mistake began to wrap itself lovingly around their chests. "Uh-oh…"

All of a sudden, Su got a funny look on her face. "Stay here guys. I've got something that might help." She requested as she sprinted up the hill.

"If that girl brings back a bunch of bananas to eat, Mol-Mol will need a new princess." Kitsune commented.

Returning in record time, Su plopped a large laptop in the centre of the table. The rest of them crowded around as she opened it. "What'cha got there, kiddo?"

"When Keitaro first arrived, I could never work out how he managed to come back so quickly after being smacked around by Naru and Motoko." She replied absently while she typed. "So I tagged him!"

"Huh?"

Su rolled her eyes. "I tagged him. I put little electronic bugs on his clothes and stuff, so I could track his movement and figure out how he did it."

"Did it work?" Naru asked. Having punched him pretty hard in the past, (completely justified, of course) she was curious as to how he returned in record time herself.

"Not really. The G-forces involved always fritzed the bugs. The best I could do was locate him wherever he landed." She frowned for a second, before brightening again. "But, it came in handy if he tried to hide from me." Onscreen, a map of Tokyo appeared with a tight cluster of randomly blinking green dots at its centre. As Su tapped an icon repeatedly, it zoomed in on the dots, finally resolving on a moving train. "And there our Keitaro is!" She frowned suddenly. "Hmmm…"

The others noticed. "What is it?"

Su scratched her head. "He's on a train heading for Tokyo Airport."

Kitsune voiced the question on all of their minds. "Why?"

* * *

Keitaro entered the international wing of the airport and made a beeline for the nearest metal detector. He'd always had a nagging suspicion about how Su _constantly _managed to find him whenever she wanted him for something, and figured that now was the time to put his pet theory to the test. Dragging his suitcase through the scanner, he was unpleasantly surprised to hear it go off and confirm his hypothesis. Following the direction to stand off to the side, he allowed the security guard to wave the wand over his body, while another did the same to his bags. (They had tripped the alarms as well.)

The guard was curious as to why the young man in front of him seemed to be infested with electronic bugs, and said so.

Keitaro offered a reasonably accurate version of the truth. "A friend of my ex loves her gadgets. She bugged me to keep an eye on me for her." He replied as he set about destroying every bug as they were uncovered.

"You too, huh." The guard offered. "_My _ex-wife hired a private detective to follow me around behind my back. Dozy bitch thought I was sleeping around on her." He complained bitterly.

"But you _were _cheating on her." His partner put in.

The first guard scowled. "That's not the point. She shouldn't have done that." He answered indignantly. Keitaro and the second guard exchanged unsympathetic glances as he continued destroying the bugs as they were removed from his belongings. One last wave of the wand indicated that there was another bug just above his hairline, underneath his skin. The rest of his stuff was clear. Offering a polite bow in thanks for their help, Keitaro exited the airport.

* * *

Su was muttering Mol-Mollian curses under her breath as one by one, the tracking bugs she had planted on Keitaro's clothes winked out of existence.

"What's happening?" Shinobu asked. While she didn't know what her friend was saying, she recognised the tone. Su was extremely annoyed.

"Keitaro's figured out that I tagged him. So I'm guessing he went to the airport to find them with a scanner and remove them." She smacked a fist into her other palm. "Very clever, Keitaro. But not clever enough!" She cackled.

"How so?" Mitsune asked.

"He missed one." She pointed at the lone blip still on the screen. "I figured that since he gets smacked sometimes when he's only wearing a towel, I would plant one where it couldn't fall out."

"Which was?" Naru enquired.

"Sub-dermally."

She winced. "You mean-"

"Yup! I spiked him in the head one morning." Su supplied gleefully.

"I know that Urashima is a bit thick, but wouldn't he have noticed you doing something like that?" Motoko queried.

Su beamed. "Nah! I just held the injector between my toes when I kicked him in the face once. Worked like a charm."

* * *

Arriving back in the city, Keitaro found an appropriate store and bought himself a small penknife. He then entered a restroom and began gently probing his scalp in front of a mirror. Finding a small hard lump about where the metal detector went off, he cleared the hair away to get a better look at it. Then, taking a deep breath, he opened the penknife and made a small incision over the lump. Wincing slightly, he squeezed the electronic bug out like a zit. Putting a tissue to the wound, he waited for his strange ability to kick in and heal him up. _'Hunh? That hurt less than I thought it would.' _He shrugged. _'Guess I'm used to being in pain by now.' _Wiping the blade, he folded it away and stared at the little bug with the three eyes of Mol-Mol peeking back at him. _'Bye girls.' _He thought as he crushed it into powder.

* * *

"Son of a-" Su shouted as the last blip winked out of existence. "I don't believe it!"

"What?" The girls crowded around again.

"Keitaro took out the last bug." She said, defeat thick in her voice.

"But that would mean…" Motoko faded out, before continuing with a very slight note of admiration in her voice. "He cut it out of himself."

"Ew, gross! I _so _didn't need to hear that." Kitsune put forth as she and Shinobu went a little green in the face.

Even Naru was surprised at the lengths Keitaro was willing to go to cut off all ties with them. "Um, Haruka? Did he…leave a note or anything with you?" She asked as the thought occurred to her. "For all of us, I mean." She clarified, still unwilling to publicly admit to the possibility having any feelings for him.

Haruka eyed her speculatively as she withdrew the large envelope from her apron. "Something like this, you mean?" She sneered as she held it up.

Despite herself, Naru grabbed it quickly before any of the others could react. Ripping it open, she withdrew an A4 sized sheet of paper. She gasped and began to tear up as the others crowded around, curious about her reaction.

On it was a drawing of such extraordinary detail and beauty that it took their collective breath away. It showed Naru sitting under one of the trees out the back of the Hinata-Sou near the stream that ran through the property. She was leaning back in the shade with Keitaro lying down and resting his head on her lap. Every feature, from the individual strands of his hair twirled around her fingers to the way he held his glasses folded up in his hands on his chest, was clearly apparent. And upon their faces was an expression of complete contentment as they faced each other with their eyes closed. It was a scene of closeness and harmony between them that had never existed, except in Keitaro's fantasies it seems. Underneath it all was the title:

MY WISH…

By Keitaro Urashima.

Naru wanted to punch him for daring to draw them both like that without her permission. But all she could feel right at that moment was an intense desire to be in that position with him for real. Keitaro had finally managed to find a way past her defences and touch her heart in a manner she could not ignore.

The others offered their own opinions:

"Oh wow!"

"That's so beautiful."

"Sempai has so much talent!"

"When did _that _happen?"

Naru looked up at Kitsune's question. "It-it didn't. We…we never sat like that." She began to sniffle. "He…Keitaro must have drawn it from his imagination." She touched the picture with a fingertip, gently stroking the image. "Was…was there a letter or anything else?"

"No. That's all he gave me." Haruka replied, impressed with her nephews talent.

"But…" Naru was confused and becoming angry again. Had he broken up with her? Was this his way of twisting the knife? What did it mean?

"Hey look! There's writing on the back." Su said.

Naru flipped it over. On the other side was a note: **-Tuesday, 1:00pm. Meet me at the café across the road from the main entrance of Toudai. We'll talk then. K-**

She frowned. _'What's that baka up to? He knows I'll be in the middle of a lecture then.' _Frowning, she rolled it up and began heading up the hill.

"Where ya goin', Naru?" Mitsune asked.

"I've got study to do. No need to waste any more time on that baka." She replied. "Besides, he'll be back. Most likely before sundown." She sniffed and continued making her way back to the Hinata-Sou.

The others stared after her with shock at her blasé attitude over the whole situation. However, deep inside most of them thought that she might just be right in the end. One by one, they stood and followed her.

Except Shinobu. She stayed seated in the teahouse, looking very young and in need of reassurance. Haruka was not surprised that the emotionally fragile girl had stayed behind. Out of all of them, she had hurt him the least and cared for him the most. The older Urashima had decided long ago that Shinobu's feelings for her nephew had changed from schoolgirl crush to something deeper. Either way, it made delivering her letter from Keitaro privately a lot easier.

"It's not your fault, kiddo." She said as she sat beside the teary teen. Shinobu looked at her, the confusion coming through her red-rimmed eyes clearly. "It was always only going to be a matter of time until something like this happened. The others were just too blind to see the danger signs."

"But he left without saying goodbye." Shinobu sniffled miserably. _'He left without saying goodbye to __me__!'_

Making sure that the other tenants were gone, Haruka took out the smaller envelope. "Not entirely." She winked.

The young teen looked at it, wiping her eyes. "Is that…?" She asked hesitantly, not wishing to raise her hopes unnecessarily.

Haruka nodded. "He knew that you would take his leaving the hardest. So he told me to give you this when you were alone, to give you a chance to read it before _they _got their hands on it."

Shinobu grabbed the letter out of the older woman's hands in much the same manner that Naru had earlier. Opening it carefully, she unfolded the pages and read:-

* * *

**Dear Shinobu,**

**If you are reading this, then I have decided that I can no longer live at the Hinata-Sou.**

**First of all, let there be no misunderstanding. YOU are not the reason I am gone. So put that thought out of your mind right now!**

**Part of it is to do with Naru and I, and the fact that our relationship is crumbling between us. Another part is the near constant abuse I suffer at the hands of the others. I can no longer stand it. But I also can not change it, for that would require the others to admit that I am not always at fault, and deserve some basic respect.**

**(It's okay to chuckle at the odds of that happening. I do too when I think about it!)**

**So I am leaving before something worse happens to me than cuts, scrapes or a broken leg. Because as much as it hurts me to do this, it would grieve me more to have one of you girls fall apart if something **_**really **_**bad happened to me.**

**My leaving does not mean that your promise to me is dissolved, however. I still expect to see you at Toudai someday, if that's where you choose to further your academic career. I still expect you to do your best. I am only leaving the Hinata behind, not my dreams. I am still pursuing them. I hope that you do, too.**

**So, that's it. Don't be too hard on the others. They can't help being who they are. And don't be too hard on yourself, either. You are way too young and pretty to have frown lines. (Feels weird to write about how cute you are, without being pummelled. I could get used to it!)**

**I ****will**** see you again. Be sure of that. **

**I have been, and hope I always will be,**

**Your friend, Keitaro Urashima.**

* * *

Shinobu read it through twice, before folding it up and tucking it securely into a pocket. _'Sempai thinks I'm cute!' _She beamed internally, fighting not to blush.

"Well?" Haruka enquired.

The young girl sniffled and cleared her throat. "I don't like that he's gone. I can understand why, but I don't have to like it." She admitted reluctantly.

As they both stood, Shinobu impulsively hugged Haruka. "Wha-"

"Thank you for giving me this away from the others. And thank you for always being there for him." The teen said.

Haruka's eyes widened with surprise, before grimacing with regret. "Not as much as I should have been. Not enough to prevent this from happening." She sighed.

"But you could be there for him openly. Which was more than I could do when he was here." Shinobu complained as she released the older Urashima and stepped back.

"Yeah. But he's not here anymore, is he." Haruka said enigmatically.

Shinobu looked up at her, getting a little cross at the older woman for pointing that out again. But when she saw how Haruka was looking at her with an eyebrow raised and a sneaky expression on her face, she closed her mouth and began to think about ALL the implications contained within that statement. "…right. He isn't, is he?" She said slowly. "Um, you don't happen to know where he's staying, do you?"

"Unfortunately, all he gave me was a mobile number." Haruka shrugged. Seeing the girls face fall, she decided to throw her a sweetener. "_Buuuut_, he will be back here occasionally to pick up his mail."

Shinobu brightened at that. Getting a sly look on her face, she wondered if it would be possible for Haruka to maybe let her know when Keitaro shows up from time to time. Purely in the interest of making sure that he's taking care of himself and eating right, of course.

"Of course." Haruka smirked. "When he comes in, I'll phone the Inn."

"Thanks, Haruka!" Shinobu gushed as she bounced out of the teahouse, happier than she had been in ages.

* * *

Keitaro climbed the stairs towards Hiatani and Shirai's apartment. It was now early afternoon, and he was ready to collapse for a nap. Knocking heavily on their door, he waited.

And waited.

Banging on the door again, a bit heavier this time, he shouted, "Come on, Shirai! Let me in."

Finally, the door opened wide and his shorter friend stood there dressed in only a towel looking extremely pissed off. "What the fuck, man! What're you doing here? I'm busy!" He scowled, sweating profusely.

"What do you mean? I rang Hiatani this morning. He said he left you a note." Keitaro explained.

Shirai was about to say that he didn't have the slightest idea of what his friend was talking about, when a slender feminine arm extended from behind the door and waved said note in his face. "Oh!"

"Hi, Sayuri." Keitaro mumbled as he looked away. "Sorry about this." _'I think I understand why Shirai's annoyed with me now.' _He thought, slightly embarrassed at having interrupted them.

"Hi, Keitaro!" The hand belonging to one Sayuri Ishiguro waved before withdrawing.

"Where'd the baka leave it?" Shirai demanded.

"Inside the fridge." Sayuri answered. "Isn't that where you usually head first when you wake up?"

"Usually." He snorted in annoyance. "Unfortunately, I got distracted today." He leers behind the door, getting a giggle out of her for his efforts.

"Tell you what, I'll just go for a walk and come back in twenty minutes." Keitaro says uncomfortably. "Plenty of time for you to do…whatever! _Bye_!" Not waiting for an answer, he bolted. There's nothing worse than watching a couple get all cosy in front of you. _Especially _when you know they'll be naked and going for it as soon as you're gone. _Most especially _when your own relationship is hurtling down the toilet at full speed.

Shirai leant out and watched Keitaro's rapidly retreating back. "Damn, he really needs to get laid. He'll explode soon, otherwise." Shaking his head, he turned back inside. "Now, where were we?" He wonders aloud, before slamming the door and chasing his giggling girlfriend back to the bedroom.

* * *

Keitaro found a bench under a tree nearby and reflected on the scene he had just scurried away from_. 'I can't believe Shirai was the first one of the Ronin Trio to actually find himself a normal girlfriend.'_ He did not count himself in that thought. _No one _could call what he and Naru had anything remotely close to _normal_. Or a relationship, for that matter.

Shirai and Sayuri had met at a Neverland staff Christmas party. He was proud that he had just made assistant shift manager the week before. She was one of the on-site safety officers. The details are still a bit fuzzy as to how, but he had somehow managed to persuade her into taking a chance on him that night. Considering she was recently divorced with a six year old daughter, it was quite a feat.

Eight months later, they are still going strong. Shirai has even hinted that he had recently dropped the 'L' word. And there were signs of them perhaps moving in together in the not too distant future.

Keitaro had at first been highly sceptical. A divorced twenty-eight year old woman with a child to look after on her own just happened to become interested in his twenty-one year old friend for no apparent reason? While he did not wish for his friend to remain single forever, Keitaro had lived with one of the most manipulative women in Tokyo, possibly the Pacific Rim, for over two years. He had learned as a matter of survival to smell bullshit when it was being directed at him. So Keitaro asked if he could be introduced to her to find out if she was legit, or just using Shirai.

To both Hiatani and Shirai's shock, Keitaro had been borderline rude to her that first time. Shirai had been almost ready to throw a punch at him for his intrusive line of questioning when Sayuri had suddenly asked the other two men to take her daughter for a walk while she and Keitaro cleared the air between them. When they had gone, she poured him some tea and asked some questions of her own. She then surprised him by saying she completely understood why he had interrogated her the way he had, having been a part of an abusive relationship herself.

Keitaro sputtered indignantly that that was not the case with him and Naru at all. She had looked at him in a knowing manner before telling him about her marriage. The lies. The distrust. The punishments whenever she 'got out of line'. The pain of finding out he was cheating on her when she could not give him the son he and his mother had wanted. The fear of what he would do to her after she left with their daughter. All of that, and more.

When she was done, Keitaro looked at her with tear-filled eyes. So much of what she described resonated strongly within him. Haltingly, he began to talk about his own relationships with Naru and the other girls at the Hinata-Sou. Soon, the words were spilling out of him faster and faster as he poured his heart out to someone who could listen, but not judge. He had never let everything inside him out like that before, not even to Haruka. Because Sayuri had been there herself, and understood.

By the end of the encounter, they were crying onto each other's shoulders trying to bleed the painful emotions out before they were overwhelmed anew.

From that point onwards, Keitaro never had another doubt about her intentions towards his friend. When they returned, Keitaro apologised to her and Shirai for acting like he did. When Hiatani asked what they had talked about to cause such a shift in his attitude, all he would say was that they had a lot more in common than he first thought. He added that he sincerely hoped Shirai never let such a wonderful woman like her go or he'd beat the crap out of him for being such a baka!

'_I think that was when I was finally able to stand back and start looking at what I had with Naru objectively.' _He frowned. He had become so used to the constant mistreatment at his tenant's hands that he had long ago begun to consider it normal. _'Thank God Sayuri was willing to help me see the truth. I shudder to think how long it would have gone on for before I snapped or broke.' _He thinks of all the conversations he had with her, occasionally feeling guilty for taking up time she could be spending with her daughter or her boyfriend. When he mentioned this one time, she shushed him and said she was just paying forward the same good deed someone else had done for her when she was in the same situation.

Looking at his watch, he realised that half an hour had passed. More than enough time for them to have finished up and had a shower, he decided with a bit of envy. He felt that it was okay for him to be a bit jealous of the physical aspects of their relationship. Lord knows, he'd give anything to be that way with Naru himself. _'Put it away, Urashima! You may not even be with her anymore after Tuesday.' _He frowned, thinking of the coming confrontation.

Arriving back at the unit, he knocked softly on the door. This time, Sayuri greeted him. "Hi, Keitaro. Come on in." She stood back and gestured for him to enter.

He walked in, noting the scent of jasmine in the air. "Thanks, Sayuri. And um sorry about before." He offered belatedly.

"That's okay. It was funny more than anything." She replied graciously. "Oh. We dragged your stuff inside for you. It's in the corner." She pointed out a small pile next to the couch.

"Thank you." He looked around. "Hikari not around?"

"No, silly! This is _our _time. She's with her grandparents for the weekend, being spoilt rotten." She said as Shirai walked into the room with a handful of blankets.

"Hey, Kei! Sorry about chasing you off, before." Shirai offered with a helpless shrug.

"It's alright. No harm done." Keitaro replied.

"You sure you're gonna be alright on the couch?"

"Yeah. It'll only be for a week or so." Keitaro responded, taking the blankets. "I actually have a couple of places lined up already. I just…" He sighed deeply. "I couldn't stand to be there another second. Naru punched me again, this morning. I'd done nothing wrong, and she decked me without a second thought." He turned away from them, his emotions overwhelming him again for the second time that day.

"It's okay Keitaro. Let it out." Sayuri came up behind him and put her arms around his lean frame lightly.

"Yeah man. It's nothing to be ashamed of. We're here for you, whatever you need." Shirai put a hand on his shoulder sympathetically. Sayuri had told him only small pieces about her married life, but it was still enough to make him want to hunt the bastard down and punch his lights out repeatedly. Knowing that one of his best friends was going through something similar was more than enough to reign in any smart-arse comments he might have considered making about men crying and offer what support he could.

Keitaro regained control of himself eventually. Wiping his nose on a sleeve, he looked at them both with red eyes. "Thanks guys. For everything."

Sayuri smiled warmly. "Come on. Let's get you settled in."

* * *

The next couple of days passed quickly, Keitaro having made himself at home on the couch. Hiatani had wanted to drag them all out for a night on the town to celebrate his friends' escape, but Sayuri had put her foot down and read him the riot act for being so insensitive.

Sunday and Monday was spent looking for accommodation. Keitaro also cleaned up the unit in his spare time, out of habit more than anything. His friends had thought they had walked into someone else's place by mistake the first time they returned from work.

Tuesday rolled around finally. Keitaro spent the morning at a tutorial, making sure to avoid both Narusegawa and Otohime around the campus. When it ended, he casually made his way over to the café he had picked for the meeting. Ordering a Mocha, he sipped it slowly while going over what he was going to say to Naru in his head.

At five to one, he was not surprised to see Motoko, Su, Kitsune, Sarah, Shinobu and Mutsumi winding their way through the tables towards where he was seated. And while disappointed, he was ALSO not surprised to see that Naru was nowhere in sight. "Ladies. Take a seat." He gestured. As they grabbed chairs from the surrounding tables, he noticed that they all looked a bit haggard. "How have you all been?" He asked when they were all sitting down.

"Fine." Kitsune answered tersely, looking around. "Where's Naru?"

"I am guessing that she will be here about a quarter to two."

"How do you know that?" Motoko asked sharply.

"Because her studies are more important to her than I could ever be." He answered sadly. "And that is a part of why I am breaking up with her."

"WHAT!!" Came a six-fold shout.

He continued talking over the top of them, "And before you all try and convince me to rethink my decision, consider this: if she had shown up, we _might _have been able to work things out. However, by not skipping a lecture that was only a revision of things she knows forwards and backwards, she has shown exactly how much she cares about our 'relationship'." He finished.

"Is-is this about what happened Saturday morning?" Shinobu asked timidly.

"No Shinobu. Or rather, that was the last in a long line of things that have been wrong with us from the start. I'm only sorry that it's taken this long for me to see it clearly." He smiled sadly to himself. _'And I'm glad Sayuri was able to show me how wrong my relationship with Narusegawa had become.'_

"Who's Sayuri?" Kitsune pounced immediately on his slip.

'_Oh crap! I said that out loud.' _He panicked. "Sayuri is-"

"Have you been cheating on Naru?!" Motoko demanded, getting to her feet with her hand on her sword. "You disgusting swine! Blaming your problems on her, when you have been seeing some slut behind her back!"

"If you pull that sword out, Motoko, I will have you charged with assault!" Keitaro threatened in a cold voice. "And if you EVER call Sayuri that word again, I will call your sister and tell her EVERYTHING that you have done to me these past few years." He watched her expression change from outrage to outright fear as she crumpled into her seat again. "That's right." He nodded as he saw the consequences of what he had threatened her with fully sink in. "An assault charge will follow you for the rest of your life, as will the disgrace of everyone in your family knowing that you like to attack innocents using Shinmei-Ryu techniques."

Motoko was almost in tears by now. Keitaro knew exactly where her weak points were, and how to exploit them fully. And the only way she knew how to defend herself would result in him fulfilling his threat. _'I am…defeated.' _She admitted weakly. _'By a male. By…__him__!' _She could taste the bile in her throat at such an admission.

"Fuck me, Keitaro! When did you get so cold?" Kitsune asked. Like the others, she was completely shocked at how cruelly he had shut Motoko down.

"Sayuri Ishiguro is the most wonderful and understanding woman I have ever met. She has helped me through some rough times lately. Better than Haruka could, for reasons I will not explain here. And I will NOT have her honour dragged through the mud by your vile insinuations!" He stared at them, daring someone to interrupt before he has finished. "She is also in a relationship with Shirai, one of my best friends. So in answer to your revolting implication Motoko, I have not been cheating on Narusegawa. The reasons we have fallen apart are a lot closer to home than that." With that statement, he ignored their attempts to draw him into further conversation and returned to his drink. Soon, they gave up trying and waited.

* * *

As he predicted, Naru arrived at the table at almost exactly one forty-five. Taking a seat directly opposite Keitaro, she looked at her friends and wondered why they weren't meeting her eye. "So, what do you want to talk about?" She asked Keitaro briskly when she was settled.

"Us." He replied simply.

Naru shrugged. "What about us?"

"Exactly." He said in a neutral tone.

She rubbed her fingertips over her temples to try and tame the growing headache she felt coming on. "Are you going to come to some sort of point soon, or is this an attempt to make me annoyed before you cave in and come home."

He ignored her patronizing tone and asked a question of his own. "Why weren't you here when I asked you to show up?"

"_Oh please!_" She gave him a condescending look. "Because I knew you'd wait." Seeing him snort, she continued angrily, "You always do this! Whenever you think our relationship isn't going the way you want it too, you sulk for a day or so, then come crawling back to me." She rolled her eyes.

A couple of the others moaned, and Kitsune said "oh Naru, what are you _doing_?" softly.

Naru turned to her. "_What_! What are you getting so worked up about for? He's done this so many times before, my déjà vu has déjà vu!" She huffed and pointed at him.

"Naru?" She refocused her attention back on him. "Do you care about me?"

"_What the hell kind of question is that!_"She demanded.

"A valid one." He held up her hand when she tried to speak. She was so shocked that he would do that to her, she complied. "I'm not asking if you love me, because I know that you would never admit to that. Even amongst people that have lived with us so closely." Ignoring the surprised look on her face, he swept a hand around, indicating the assembled tenants of the Hinata-Sou. "I am merely asking if you feel anything for me other than contempt."

"What? You…" Naru sputtered. "You know how I feel about you." She retorted sulkily, angry again that he was embarrassing her like this in front of their friends. Personal questions should not be spoken in company. Even _if _said company has been following their stormy relationship since before it officially started.

Keitaro looked at her sadly. "No, I don't. I thought I did, but not any more."

Now she was getting really annoyed. "Well if you don't know, why should I tell you?" Naru demanded petulantly.

"Because right now, I am ready to end our relationship. I want to know if you can give me any reason not to." He stated, praying that she could give him just one reason not to do this. It would be enough. It would be a start.

Naru felt like the air had been sucked out of her. "what?" She asked softly, unwilling to comprehend the threat he had just uttered.

Keitaro just looked at her, waiting.

Looking to the others seated around the table for support, she was stunned to find them also awaiting her answer curiously. Familiar emotions began to stir within her. _'How __dare__ he put me on the spot like this in front of everyone!' _She fumed, ignoring the inner voice telling her to calm down or she will lose more than her temper this day. "How dare you! The amount of perverted crap you pull on everyone, running off to who knows where for days without warning, and all of a sudden it's MY fault!"

"I am staying at Hiatani and Shirai's place. If you had seen fit to be interested in _anything _other than studying with me and accepted the invitation I extended to you months ago, you'd know where to find me right now." Seeing her open her mouth, he continued quickly. "And I'm not saying it's all your fault, either. Some of the blame for why we are falling apart lies at my feet as well. What I am saying is, is that we are not really suited for each other." A collective gasp came from all of the girls. "It took me a long time to see it, but I finally realised that all we are doing to each other is causing pain. The fact that you are so unwilling to admit to any positive feelings about me with only our closest friends present just reinforces to me the fact that whatever brought us together at the start is no longer there." Ignoring the sick feeling in his stomach, he pressed ahead. "I am breaking up with you, Narusegawa. We're finished." Wiping a tear from his eye, he stood up and began to walk away without another word.

Naru was completely numb. _'He…he broke up with me? HE broke up with ME!' _As she repeated this sentence over and over, her righteous inner fire was stoked once again. _'HOW DARE HE!' _

Kitsune was reaching out to comfort her frozen friend when Naru snarled suddenly and raced off in the direction Keitaro had gone. The group watched her for a moment, before rising as one and persueing them.

Naru caught up with him quickly in a park next to the university. Grabbing his shoulder, she spun him around and slammed him against a tree. "What do you mean, we're finished! How _dare _you pull something like this on me!" She cried as the others gathered around, unwilling to intervene and wanting to know Keitaro's reasons for doing this. "After all I've done for you. Helping you study. Giving you chance after chance when you screw up. Practically dragging your sorry arse into Toudai behind me!"

"The beatings over non-existent reasons. The snide comments. The condescending attitude whenever I ask for help. The complete lack of trust in me. You're willingness to take _anyone _elses side over mine in an arguement. The fact that you have not touched me in _any _way in the last few months, unles it was to punch me." He retorted, letting his frustration show. "Need I go on? I have plenty more where that came from."

"You mean that when you said you two were studying all alone in your room late at night, you were just studying. Not _'studying'_." Mitsune commented from the sidelines. _'Bloody hell, Naru!' _She was starting to get an idea why Keitaro looked so frustrated sometimes.

Naru rounded on her. "Give it a rest, Kitsune! As if anyone would want to make out with a pathetic wimp like him!" As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wished with all her heart she could pull them back. Once again, her temper had consumed her and her unwillingness to admit anything in front of others had betrayed her. Turning her head to face Keitaro again, she flinched when instead of the expected betrayal or hurt at her words, all she saw in his eyes was resignation. Releasing him, she stumbled backwards.

"Like I said, all we do is hurt each other." He repeated desolately. With shoulders slumped, he shuffled away from them without a backwards glance, leaving Naru to the care of her friends.

* * *

Notes: I was thinking the other day about why I tend to use the Anime as a starting point for pretty much all of my Love Hina stories. I guess it's because from what I have read of the Manga, the girls are not quite the unrelenting Uber-bitches to Keitaro that they are in the Anime. Or rather, in the manga Keitaro is more willing to show a bit of backbone and talk back to them. Although it rarely does him any good, it's nice to see him stand up for himself instead of just taking it on the chin (And head. And torso. And wherever else they can reach.)

I freely admit I could be wrong. (I have the entire manga series, but never the time to sit down and read it in order.) But it seems that if you want the extreme emotions, you gotta go with the Anime. And, for the lazy writer who's not talented enough to really dive into the emotional whyfors of the characters (Like me!!), its an easy out.

Just a random thought. Later! T

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

LEAVING HINATA 2

By: Tezza1502

Disclaimer: Ken Akamatsu an' his affiliates be dose dat own da keys to dis kingdom. Ahm just peekin' in da winduh!

Notes: Continuing the downward spiral of the Hinata inhabitants. Some more space devoted to the less seen characters, and their responses to finding out what's been happening up on the hill. Oh yeah, I was asked by a couple of people what Sayuri looks like. I kinda pictured her as a more confident version of Maya Ibuki, from 'Neon Genesis Evangelion'. I actually meant to include a description of her in chapter one somewhere, but it slipped my mind. So here you go instead. Also, thanks for giving this a chance. It's slightly more downbeat than my usual stuff, so I'm glad it's finding an audience.

* * *

MONTH ONE 

A month passed since the day Keitaro had separated from Naru, and by extension the rest of the tenants at the Hinata-Sou.

Mutsumi had decided to visit her family in Okinawa within days of the split. The reasons she had given aloud for her sudden departure were feeble, even for her. The sadness and disappointment with which she regarded Naru as she boarded the train home spoke far more eloquently than any words.

Naru tried to shrug it off and continue on as if she could not be more pleased by the turn of events. However, this attitude soon gave way to miserable introspection. She quickly discovered that despite what she frequently thought aloud about his numerous accidents and such, her ex-boyfriend had been an important part of her life. His smiles. His endless patience. His boundless enthusiasm. His willingness to be there for her, no matter what life and the other tenants threw at him. The little things about him that she took for granted daily. Once he was gone, all the parts of Keitaro's personality that she had liked (loved?) suddenly rushed to the front of her consciousness and did not go away, despite her best efforts.

The attitude of the other tenants towards her did nothing to help her growing melancholy, either. Every time something needed to be repaired, or the hot springs needed to be cleaned, or they needed a hand with a task, they would automatically call for Keitaro. When reality caught up with them, (usually only seconds later) they would look at Naru as if to say, "It's _your _fault we no longer have someone here to do this for us!", despite the self-evident fact that they had _all _played a part in driving Keitaro away.

_All _of them? Not quite. While the older girls could glare at each other and pass the blame around, there was one tenant that _none _of them could quite bring themselves to look in the eye anymore. Oddly enough, she was the one resident that was taking Keitaro's absence the best.

* * *

Shinobu hummed her way softly through the days following his sudden departure. She kept his note to her close, and read it over from time to time. Usually whenever she was missing him the greatest. She could understand why he left, and forgave him easily. She also knew that he would be dropping in from time to time to Haruka's teashop, so there was always the chance of 'accidentally' running into him. 

Kitsune was, naturally enough, the first person to notice this anomalous behaviour from the normally emotional teen. Watching her closely as the weeks passed, the fox noticed that Shinobu's mood would start out the week high, and then gradually droop as the days passed until the weekend arrived. On those days, she would spend the first half of it in a weirdly tense state. At some point, she would disappear for an hour or two, and then return floating on cloud nine.

Three weeks of this were enough to establish a routine. As the fourth Sunday rolled around, Kitsune decided that a bit of snooping was required. Making sure that she did not make the same mistake she had the previous week (when it first occurred to her to do this), she forced herself to stay sober the night before so she could rise early the next morning.

Admiring the first sunrise she had seen in a good many years, Kitsune occupied her time by quietly rearranging her sake bottle collection and cleaning her room. It would not do to tip off the other tenants that she was up to something by showing up to breakfast on time.

Keeping a discreet eye on Shinobu as the morning progressed, she realised that something was about to happen as the young teen answered the phone. With a now rare but familiar smile on her face, Shinobu thanked the person on the other end of the line and _skipped _upstairs to her room. Soon enough, she was sneaking outside and down the stairs wearing a powder blue sundress.

Kitsune's nose twitched. She knew very well what the only thing was that could put such a wide smile on the girls face. _He _was nearby!

Following her at a distance, Kitsune watched as Shinobu took up position under a tree across the road from Haruka's teahouse. It was the ideal vantage point to observe anyone coming and going from the teahouse without giving yourself away. Kitsune was impressed with Shinobu's cunning.

Finding her own spot, the older girl settled in. She did not have to wait for long. Barely a half hour after they both arrived, Keitaro walked up to the door and entered Haruka's shop. Waiting a minute to see if he was going to stay, Shinobu broke cover and scurried over to a window near where she knew he would be sitting. Listening intently, she knelt down and made herself comfortable.

Kitsune sauntered over behind the eavesdropper and tapped her on the shoulder. "Hiya Shinobu!" She said in a quiet undertone, making sure she stayed hidden herself.

Shinobu swallowed a squeal and spun around. "_Kitsune!_" She whispered fiercely. "What are you doing here?"

"Back at ya, kiddo." Kitsune winked. "Although if I had to guess, I'd say that a certain secret crush was sitting on the other side of this wall." She reached a hand out to knock the wall lightly, only to have it grabbed suddenly by the younger girl before it could connect.

Shinobu blushed as she let go. "I have no idea what you are talking about, Kitsune." She retorted indignantly.

"Uh-huh." She smirked. "So if I was to peek inside through this window, I _wouldn't _see Keitaro sitting there talking to his aunt." Kitsune made as if to stand up and peer inside.

Shinobu quickly latched onto her again and pulled her back down. "Don't you dare!"

Getting comfortable, Kitsune complied. "So, why _aren't _you in there? I figure out of all of us, he probably wouldn't mind if you went in and said hello." She enquired, a touch of regret colouring her voice.

"I-I'm…" Shinobu stammered. "I don't know. Listening to him talk with Haruka. Hearing about the pain he's gone through. How could he _ever _be comfortable around any of us ever again?"

Kitsune had no ready answer to that statement. It was the bare truth of the situation. Since he had arrived, they had used Keitaro as nothing more than a whipping post for their own amusement. They had exploited him as a way of masking their own insecurities. With him gone, they were having to face their demons on their own again. This was beginning to take its toll.

"When you put it like that, I dunno!" Kitsune sighed deeply. Putting her head in her hands, she sighed again. "We really screwed up with him, didn't we." She admitted ruefully. Running her fingers through her hair, she straightened up and faced Shinobu. "Well, all of us except you that is."

"No." Shinobu answered sadly, to the woman's surprise. "I could have stood up for him. I could have told the others more forcefully that he never did anything inappropriate to me. I just lacked the courage to speak up against all of you. And now he's gone." She cradled her own head in her hands and began to sniffle quietly.

Seeing this, Kitsune tentatively reached over and put her arm around Shinobu's shoulders in an attempt to comfort the younger girl. The teen tensed at the unexpected contact, then relaxed and accepted Kitsune's offer.

* * *

After a while, Kitsune realised that they had quite forgotten about their original purpose for hiding under an open window outside Haruka's teahouse while she had been comforting the other girl. Stretching her legs, she nudged the other girl gently to get her attention. "D'you think he's still in there?" 

"Um, no." Shinobu answered. "Sempai usually only stays for about an hour or so. Just enough time to pick up any mail and maybe have a quick chat with Haruka." She frowned as she added softly, "The faster he is, the less chance he will be caught."

Kitsune frowned at the thinking behind such actions. "We were that bad, huh?"

"Yup!"

They both froze. That answer had come from above them. Looking up, they saw Haruka leaning out of the window over them with her usual neutral expression on her face.

"Oh, uh, hi Haruka." Kitsune ventured weakly.

"He took off five minutes ago. Maybe next time Shinobu?" The older Urashima's eyes flicked from one flustered girl to the other.

"…maybe." The teen squirmed uncomfortably.

"Good, 'cause he's beginning to think that you don't like him anymore." Haruka scolded her gently.

"Huh?" Kitsune blurted. "You mean he _knows _that Shinobu has been staking him out?"

"Of course." Haruka confirmed. "You picked out a good hiding spot across the road kiddo. But my nephew had to grow eyes in the back of his head when he moved in here. He spotted you on his way out that first weekend." She glared at Kitsune. "And if I catch _you _down here again while Keitaro's here, or repeating what you've seen and heard today to the others, I will become displeased. Are we clear?" She stated coldly.

Kitsune gulped. "Crystal!"

"Good. Now scram! I've got a business to run. And Granny Hina's arriving tomorrow, so make sure you tell the others to have that place in perfect condition for when she shows up. I'll be up to inspect your efforts before I turn in for the night." With that, Haruka pulled her head back inside and shut the window firmly.

Kitsune stared at Shinobu in dread. "Granny Hina?"

Shinobu returned the stare. "Here?"

"_Tomorrow!_" They both looked up the stairs towards the Hinata at the same time.

"Oh crap!!"

* * *

Which was pretty much the dominant response from the other girls when they were told the news. The initial panic was replaced by a flurry of activity as they attempted to clean the former hotel to the standards they used to make Keitaro reach. Needless to say, they were not very successful. In fact, if it was not for Shinobu they would have had only the barest idea of where to begin. The occasional restart caused by Su's mecha-tama's did not help, either. 

As mid-morning approached the following day, the girls were all sitting outside under the front awning. Sipping the cold drinks Shinobu had provided for them, they speculated nervously as to why Hina was showing up out of the blue while they waited.

Running out of fanciful ideas, Kitsune sighed and voiced their shared thought. "Who are we kidding. She knows that Keitaro isn't here anymore."

Motoko winced. "It is highly likely. I imagine Haruka would have called her as soon as it became certain that Urashima was not coming back." She fought to conceal another shudder. "We may be in a lot of trouble."

Kitsune snorted humourlessly. "That may be the biggest understatement I have ever heard come out of your mouth, kendo-girl. We drove out the person Granny _specifically _put in charge of this place! 'Deep Shit' doesn't even _begin _to come close to describing where we are right now!"

"But if we explain-" Naru started.

"WHAT, Naru!" Kitsune rounded on her. She had been feeling just as guilty as the others about why Keitaro had departed, and her best friend had just given her an opening to vent some pent up emotions. "That he bailed because he didn't have the stones to put up with being used as a punching bag by a bunch of selfish bitches for all eternity! That just because he was a male, he shouldn't have been here in the first place?" Kitsune was nose to nose with Naru by now. "HOW are you going to justify to Granny Hina, the person who gave _all _of us a roof over our heads when we needed it most, that we basically _tortured _her grandson…no, her FAVOURITE grandson, until he felt he had no other option but to leave behind his responsibilities and hide! HOW!" She shouted, punctuating her demand by poking Naru in the chest with a sharp fingernail.

Seeing her best friend backing away in tears at her harsh words, Kitsune deflated. "Sorry Naru. I…I shouldn't be shouting at you. I'm just as guilty in all this." She slumped back onto the steps.

"Indeed. But you do raise an interesting point." A voice agreed from the stairway that led down to Haruka's shop. The girls looked over to see their worst nightmare standing there, staring at them coldly from underneath her black, wide-brimmed hat. Even her pet cat, Kuro, was glaring at them from its comfortable position in her arms. "So it's true." She spat in disgust. "Even _you _pathetic wastes of space don't know where my Onii-chan is living now, do you?"

"K-K-Kanako!" Naru quickly found that her fellow tenants were lined up behind her, using her as a human shield. Out of all of them, she had gotten along with Keitaro's sister the best. Which was not saying much. "Wh-where is-?"

Keitaro's sister favoured them with an evil grin. "Granny Hina is down at aunt Haruka's teahouse, being filled in about recent occurrences. She will be up here shortly-" Kanako waited a beat before adding, "Along with my parents."

They all gulped. A bad day had just gone from worse to FUBAR.

"Ahem." An old voice coughed from behind Kanako. "That will be enough for now, dear. Let's take any further discussion inside." Hina commanded as she breezed past the assembled girls. Unwilling to meet her eyes, they all filed in behind her.

Once inside, Hina asked Shinobu of she could brew a pot of tea for her. After taking a sip and complimenting her, Hina began without preamble. "I am very disappointed in you girls." Waving off their attempt to speak all at once, she continued, "While his introduction to you all was a bit rocky, I thought that you would give my grandson a chance to prove himself to you. It took a long time for me to convince his parents that _here _was the best place for him to do a little growing up and overcome his shyness around the opposite sex. I even went so far as to assure them that this would be a _safe _environment for their baby. And before you ask, my son and his wife are not coming up. I felt that having them here would be counter productive." Hina sipped at her tea before once again pinning the girls with a hard stare. "I had assumed that the worst was over, and that he was finally being accepted by you all. What happened?"

The girls all looked at each other uneasily. Finally, Motoko spoke up. "The situation…backslid."

Hina raised an eyebrow. "And?" Looking around at their faces, she noticed that their eye lines flicked to Naru frequently. And that Naru had not raised her own eyes from her feet the whole time. "Naru?"

Naru jumped as if goosed. "Yes Granny?"

"Anything you care to add? I seem to remember you and my grandson becoming close after the incident at the annex."

Naru's eyes began to moisten as she looked down again, unwilling to speak.

Kitsune tried to talk for her friend. "Naru and Keitaro are going through a… bit of a rough patch right now." She shrugged helplessly.

Hina's eyes did not shift from Naru. "I wish to hear it from her, thank you Kitsune." Hina knew how stubborn Naru could be, and she wanted the girl to admit _something _to her, not just hide and wish the problem away as she usually does.

"I-I…" Unable to speak, Naru reached into a pocket and withdrew a folded piece of laminated paper. Holding it out, she handed it to Hina.

Unfolding it, Hina's eyes widened as she saw what was on it. An arm extended from over her shoulder and she heard Kanako whisper _"Onii-chan" _softly as she lightly stroked the drawing of Keitaro.

Hina looked back at Naru. Things were becoming clearer to her now. "My grandson wanted this with you." She asked.

Naru nodded.

"But you were unable to return his feelings."

Another nod.

Hina then asked the question Naru had been dreading. "Why?"

Before she could attempt to answer, Kanako put her own theory out first. "She's frigid."

"I AM NOT!" Naru shouted indignantly as her head flew up to find Kanako smirking back.

"Prove it!" The other girl taunted.

"Kanako dear, that's enough." Hina gently scolded her as Naru struggled with a comeback. "Naru, I honestly thought you were getting over those intimacy issues you had with Keitaro."

"I-I was. But…" Naru's voice hitched. "He was so patient, even when I'd freak out. Then…then our studies started to take up all our time, and it was easier to push him away than to try and deal with..._that _stuff." She waved a hand vaguely. "Soon, we just fell back into our old patterns. It was…easier that way." She finished weakly.

"For who?" Kanako snorted loudly. "Not for Onii-chan, I'll bet!"

Naru considered this for a moment. "But…he would have said something, wouldn't he?" He looked from Hina to the others, honestly confused.

Kitsune shook her head sadly. "Naru-honey, the last time Keitaro talked back to you about something, (which was the morning he left by the way) you backhanded him off his chair. If he had confronted you directly about how unhappy he was with where your relationship was at, you would have probably sent him to mainland China thinking he was trying to get you to do something perverted."

Naru's mouth opened and closed a few times at her friend's brutally honest description of how such a conversation would have gone. Even deep down, she could barely admit to herself that that's exactly what would have happened.

Seeing that all of the girls were going through their own versions of hell, Hina decided to cut them all a break. Despite the fact that she was still very cross with them over the way they had treated her favourite grandson, she could not find it within herself to expel them from the Hinata. Sadly, none of them had anywhere else to go.

"Girls." They all focused their attention on her. "For now, I am going to drop this. I have larger issues to worry about. Chief among them, how to get Keitaro back here." The relieved smiles that had started to form on their faces abruptly fell away again when she said that.

"Will…will that be even possible?" Shinobu asked hesitantly.

"We don't know." Kanako favoured her with a slight nod. While still a potential rival for Keitaro's affections, she knew Shinobu had treated her brother the best. This alone spared her of what she would put the others through if Granny Hina turned her back for any length of time. "But we might have a chance to at least ask."

"Huh!?" Naru perked up at that.

"After talking with my daughter, combined with other titbits I picked up from some old friends in the area, I believe I have his current address." Hina waved a piece of paper at them. "We are heading there now. _However_…" She raised her voice as they all jumped to their feet in anticipation of racing out the door after her, "I think that this visit should consist of family only. We do not want my grandson leaping out the window in an attempt to flee when he spots you all."

"But-" Naru sputtered.

"'But' what, Narusegawa?" Kanako snarled. "Want to give my Onii-chan a punch to say sorry for driving him out of his birthright! Maybe kendo-girl could hack at him with that overgrown butter knife of hers to invite him back. The nut job there could return him here on the nose of a nuke and the drunk could lift his wallet as he sails in through a wall."

"STOP IT!"

Kanako blinked and stared at Shinobu, shocked.

"They're already suffering, knowing that they chased off Sempai. There's no need to keep punishing them for it." Shinobu trailed off, not used to raising her voice at anyone.

The other girls were touched that she would come to their defence like that.

"They haven't suffered enough." All eyes swung back to Kanako. She continued coldly, "For what they put my Onii-chan through, I will make them wish they had never-"

"_Kanako!_" Hina said sternly. "If you can not behave yourself, I will leave you here until we return from visiting Keitaro."

The desire to be left alone with the Hinata residents unsupervised for an indeterminate amount of time was very tempting, but the desire to see her brother was stronger. "Very well. I will mind my tongue." She agreed softly. The girls let out a sigh of relief.

Hina nodded at her adopted granddaughter, then faced the other girls. "We are leaving now. Shinobu, could I please ask you to prepare a room for Kanako and myself? We will need to stay in town for a while to sort out a few things if I can't convince my grandson to return."

"Sure, Granny." Shinobu nodded.

"As for the rest of you, think hard about how you wish to interact with Keitaro in the future. If I manage to convince him to return, and I am not at all confident that I can, I will not tolerate him being treated as he was before. I love you all, but blood is thicker than water." With that statement, Hina left the room, Kanako trailing behind her after a last glare at them all. The girls watched them go silently.

"I almost hope she doesn't bring him back." Kitsune whispered, drawing gasps from the others.

"How can you say that?" Shinobu demanded.

"You heard what Granny Hina said." Kitsune retorted. "Think about it. Keitaro actually comes back, through some miracle. Eventually, he will trip and get himself into an awkward situation. POW! SLASH! Ka-BOOM! And then Hina will boot whoever hits him out on the street. Because 'blood is thicker than water'." She grimaced as the meaning of what Hina had said became clear to the rest of them. "And what's left of our dysfunctional little family will break up. Forever." Kitsune sighed heavily as she stood and headed for her room to brood.

* * *

"_What do you mean, '__he doesn't live here anymore'__!" _

The Urashima's had arrived at the block of units where Hiatani and Shirai live, all of them except Kanako a bit winded from the four flights of stairs they had just climbed up. While the rest of them were catching their breath, Keitaro's sister had charged ahead and knocked on the door. Shirai had opened the door and found himself almost flung over the railing as Kanako pushed him aside to barge into the unit.

"What the hell...?" He yelped as he fought to steady himself against the railing. Unlike his friend Keitaro, he _wouldn't _miraculously survive a four-storey plummet into solid concrete.

"WHERE IS HE?" Kanako shouted as she flung open all the doors she could see in an effort to find her onii-chan.

"Gwuh?" Hiatani rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as a gothic blur whipped in and out of his room. _'Who the fuck was that?' _Grumbling, he dragged himself out of bed to find out what was so important that he had to be woken up at this ungodly hour. The hangover attempting to take the top of his head off was not helping his mood, either.

"WHERE IS MY ONII-CHAN!!"

"MOMMEEE!!!!" Hikari squealed in fright as a strange black-clad lady burst into the room she was resting in, surrounded by an angry aura.

"WHERE IS-"

"If your looking for Keitaro, he doesn't live here anymore." Sayuri glared at the teenager who was tear-arsing around her boyfriend's unit. Bending down, she bundled her frantic daughter up into her arms as the little girl streaked across the room seeking safety. Which leads us back to Kanako's question:-

"_What do you mean, '__he doesn't live here anymore'__!" _

Sayuri looked down her nose at this young teenager trying her best to intimidate her. "Back off little girl. You're scaring my daughter." She growled dangerously.

"KANAKO!" Mr. Urashima roared from the doorway. "Behave yourself and stop embarrassing us." Not waiting for her to reply, Mrs. Urashima yanked her roughly backwards by the scruff of her neck. Keeping her off-balance, Mrs. Urashima dragged Kanako out of the room and into the stairwell, where she proceeded to give her daughter a thorough talking to about the ways a guest should behave when visiting. _Especially _when seeking information about missing family members.

While this was happening, Mr. Urashima and Granny Hina bowed deeply from the doorway. "We apologise for Kanako's behaviour."

"And so you should!" Sayuri demanded angrily. It was hard enough to get Hikari to nap during the day without her being frightened out of her wits by a bunch of strangers.

"Hey, your Keitaro's father. And you're Granny Hina." Shirai said as he squeezed past them to help his girlfriend calm down Hikari.

"Yes, we are." Hina answered. "I am sorry for the way my grand-daughter behaved just now. She misses her brother, and can be a bit thoughtless when she becomes anxious." Walking over, she reached a hand out towards Hikari, who was still snuffling a bit in her mother's arms. "And who is this charming young girl?"

"My name is Hikari. What's yours?" She answers shyly before Sayuri could respond.

"Most people call me Granny Hina, child." Hina replies.

"I'm not a child. I'm six years old." Hikari replies as indignantly as was possible when someone was playing with you like Hina was with her. Soon, Hikari and Hina were involved in a swatting match as the six year old tried to keep Hina from stealing her nose.

Sayuri and Shirai looked on with amazement. They both knew how hard it was to get Hikari to forget about being in a bad mood when she gets going. "That clinches it! You are definitely related to Keitaro in some way." Sayuri shook her head. "Even I can't calm Hikari down the way he could when she decides that she's going to be cranky for a while."

"Secret Urashima Technique." Was all Hina said as she turned her attention back to Sayuri. "Now, I believe you said something about Keitaro not being here?"

"Yes. A professor of his from Toudai, Seta something, showed up this morning with his daughter and picked Keitaro up." Sayuri frowned. "A rude little thing she was, too. Always trying to trip Kei up. And she was the least of his troubles there, he reckoned."

"Where is he now?" Mr. Urashima asked eagerly. His boy was trying to distance himself from his family a bit too enthusiastically for his tastes.

"Um, Keitaro said we could tell you only if you promised not to tell the others." Hiatani put in.

"What others?" Mr. Urashima wondered. Hina understood though.

"You have my word that the girls from the Hinata will not find out Keitaro's address from us." She promised.

Hiatani, Shirai and Sayuri all looked at each other, seeking accord. With a nod, Shirai fished an envelope out of his pocket and handed it over. "He's found a place about the same distance as here from Toudai on the other side." He shrugged. "I don't think he wants to run into any of them by accident."

Hina accepted the envelope. "Well, he's certainly going about it the right way." She muttered under her breath.

"Why are you all so desperate to find him? He'd have gotten in touch with you once he was settled, I'm sure." Hiatani asked.

"We want to be sure he's okay." Mr. Urashima answered.

"And I need to talk with him about his birthright." Hina added.

"The Hinata?" Sayuri blurted in surprise. "Good luck getting him back there!"

"What do you know of it?" Hina asked, staring at her curiously.

"Only what he told me. Which was enough to make me wonder what the hell you were thinking, throwing him to those she-wolves without a care as to his safety." Sayuri retorted angrily.

"A question I have put to the old woman myself, many times." Kanako said as she re-entered the unit. Bowing deeply to the three adults, she apologised for her behaviour earlier.

"That's okay. No harm done." Shirai said.

"Yeah. At least you didn't take a swing at us." Hiatani added with a sigh of relief.

"Were those girls really that bad?" Mrs. Urashima enquired as she walked in behind Kanako. Her mother-in-law, as well as Keitaro during his infrequent phone calls home, had always described the Hinata tenants in glowing terms. Just a bit troubled by their respective pasts. That her son might have gotten in over his head with them was news to her.

Sayuri handed her daughter to Shirai so he could put her back into bed to finish off her nap. When they were out of the room, Sayuri sighed and answered the question. "Keitaro and I didn't get off on the right foot with each other. In fact, he was downright rude to me the first time we met." She smiled slightly as the Urashima's present gave her a disbelieving look at that statement. "You see, he thought that I might be taking advantage of Shirai, or using him for my own selfish ends. Because that was the only way the women around his own age had ever related to him. Men were stupid, clumsy perverts that were only good for being abused and taken advantage of every way they could be by the women around them." The Urashima's gasped. "He was afraid that one of his best friends was falling into the same 'trap'. So I sat him down and told him a bit about my first marriage. How it started. Why it ended. And the damage it did to me as a person." Shirai had returned by now and embraced her from behind lightly in a show of support. "I then told him I recognised the same signs in him. That he was a part of an abusive relationship, and it was time for him to recognise it for what it was before it destroyed him."

Granny Hina frowned at that. "Oh come now, I'm sure that the girls weren't _that _hard on him. And he's been pining for Naru almost from the moment he met her."

"Granny Hina?" Shirai spoke up hesitantly. "Sayuri and I asked Keitaro and Naru out for dinner with us once. We waited for two hours for them to show. When Keitaro finally arrived at the restaurant, he had a black eye, his clothes were shredded, and he was almost in tears. He barely held it together long enough for us to get him out of there. Outside, he was a mess for almost a half-hour before we could get anything coherent out of him about what had happened." He frowned at the memory. "Apparently, Naru had forgotten all about the date, despite numerous reminders. When he fronted at her door, she screamed at him for daring to try and drag her away from her studies at a crucial time for such an inconsequential thing. When he tried to calm her down and bring her around, well, he had an attack of the clumsies and…"

"The bitch punched him into orbit." Kanako finished, grinding her teeth in fury. And that cow had the temerity to look sorry for herself earlier!

"…yeah." Shirai shrugged. "That's what it's like for him there, every day. Something…_anything, _happens. And Keitaro gets punished for it. You're shocked that he's left?" He put forward. "Frankly, I'm surprised that this didn't happen months ago!"

* * *

Meanwhile, across the other side of Tokyo, Keitaro Urashima was just finished getting settled into his new unit. It wasn't much. Just a single room big enough for a bed and a desk. The doorway to the combined laundry/toilet/bathroom was up one end, the small kitchen down the other. It was small, and cramped, but it was his and his alone. The only way he would get hurt here was if he kicked his toe on a corner. With the meagre funds available to him, he was very pleased with what he had found for himself. 

"Here you go." Keitaro said to Seta as he walked out onto the small balcony. Handing his mentor a beer, he twisted the lid of his own and took a deep gulp of the cheap amber liquid within. _"Aahhhh!!"_

"_Kampai!" _Seta retorted before doing the same, letting the bitter fluid work its way into his stomach in a reflective silence. Collecting his thoughts, the Toudai professor glanced sideways at his favourite part-timer. "So, have you talked to any of the girls yet since you left?"

Keitaro took another swallow. "Nah."

"Why not? I would have thought that you would at least be curious about how they've been getting along since you left." He enquired as he took note of Keitaro's body language, trying to gauge what was going on inside that bespectacled head. The way Keitaro had been acting towards Naru and Mutsumi at Toudai was startling enough to actually knock Seta out of the set of clouds he normally kept his head buried in. He had even gone so far as to make contact with his former love, Haruka, to find a reason for the coldness he had observed between the normally inseparable trio.

"If anything noteworthy had happened, Haruka would have mentioned it." Seta looked confused at that. "I go back there from time to time, to pick up mail and have a chat with her." He chuckled as something occurred to him. "It's funny in a way. I lived there for ages, but I've talked to Haruka more in the last few weeks than I ever have before. And they're _real _conversations too, not just me whining and moping about why I couldn't make any headway with Narusegawa." He smiled fondly at how close he was becoming to his aunt lately.

"So your not worried about them? About how your shifting out will affect them?"

Keitaro shook his head. "Not really. They barely tolerated me while I was there. I imagine that without all the accidents and crap that followed me around, they would be happier than at any point since I moved in. And I left a note explaining my actions to the only one I thought would really miss me." He shrugged. "Between Motoko and Naru, and with Haruka only down the stairs, the security of the Hinata and its tenants is in good hands."

Seta stared at Keitaro with something akin to shock_. 'Does he truly not know how much those girls cared for him? How much they depended on and needed him?' _This, from someone who was normally completely oblivious to what was going on around him. "So, you don't think that any of them will really be missing you right now?"

"Shinobu maybe." Keitaro mused, the beer working its magic on loosening his tongue. "She always seemed to care when I got hit by the others. As for the rest of them, the only time they'll miss me is when the hot springs need scrubbing, or they need to work off some stress by pummelling me." He finished gloomily.

"…was it really that bad there?" Seta asked, beginning to see some past happenings in a new light. Like the others, he had never considered what effect the constant abuse was having on the young man. He had always figured that since Keitaro emerged from his beatings with a smile on his face, he was not hurting. Blinking, Seta realised suddenly that Keitaro had not answered his question yet. "Keitaro?"

"Can I tell you something, Seta? Just between you and me." Keitaro asked in a soft voice.

"Um, sure."

"When…when I finally realised how bad things were for me. When I really started planning to leave. The thing that scared me the most was that the girls would chase me and drag me back to the Hinata." Seta stared at him as he shivered slightly. "They've done it before, you know. For whatever reason, whenever I've left the Hinata without their 'permission', they've tracked me down and brought me back. Hell, I even got as far as Pararakelse Island once. _The middle of the Pacific Ocean! _And they still managed to find me."

"Oh yeah, I remember that one." Seta scratched his chin. "As I recall, Naru was pretty happy about finding you."

"_Really!_" Keitaro drawled sarcastically. "Was that before or after she nailed me in the back of the head with that stone carving within five minutes of finding me?"

"Keitaro-"

"It was always the same! I'd try to help? I got hit! I left them alone? I got hit! I get too close? I got hit! I keep my distance? I got hit!" He sighed. "I mean, people always told me that those girls cared for me. That Naru had feelings for me. That I was just too blind to see what was right in front of me." He scowled. "How on earth was I supposed to believe them when that shit kept happening to me, no matter what I tried! How was I supposed to find the truth amongst all that?"

Seta looked at his beer, concerned. Something had just occurred to him. "Did…was Sarah a part of all that?" Sarah MacDougal had decided to stay in the van while Seta helped Keitaro bring his stuff up the stairs, loudly declaring that she had no interest in seeing what sort of dump the dork had managed to scam for himself. Uppermost in Seta's mind at that moment was the way that Sayuri Ishiguro woman had scowled at him about his daughter's behaviour while he was helping Keitaro lug his stuff to the van. At the time, he had thought that Sarah was just playing with Keitaro the way she always does. With what he had heard in the last few minutes, he was slowly realising that his little girl may have actually been acting somewhat more maliciously towards the Toudai student, and might have been seriously trying to trip his favourite part-timer into falling down the stairs with an armful of luggage. "Did she ever do anything to you? Like…" He gulped. "Like the others did?"

Seeing Keitaro pause and stutter as he tried to come up with an answer to the unexpected question told Seta all he needed to know.

* * *

After Shirai's statement, the Urashima's had been unable to come up with a reply. So they had excused themselves as soon as politeness would allow and left. The drive across town towards Keitaro's new abode was a silent one. Granny Hina was especially pensive. With all the new information she was having to absorb today about what she had thrown her grandson into, she was unsure about the future of the Hinata for the first time in many years. It was not a feeling that she enjoyed. 

"I told you so."

"Kanako, now is not the time." Mrs. Urashima said.

Kanako ignored her mother's request to be quiet. "I told you that he wasn't safe there, surrounded by those harpies. But _nooooo_! _'Kanako's just being jealous. Kanako can't accept that her brother has to lead his own life.'_" She mimicked some of the words thrown at her in the past on this subject. "I know him better than anyone else alive. I could _see _the pain he was hiding, even from himself." She continued, trying to drive more verbal barbs into the people who had not heeded her concern. "Onii-chan would put up with the fires of hell with a smile if he thought it was in the best interests of those he cares about." _'I'm just glad that Sayuri woman managed to get through to him, somehow.'_ She thought_. 'I must find a way to make it up to her for my behaviour earlier.' _Kanako was glad that someone had helped her brother see the light. She just wished that she could have been there to see their faces when those bitches had realised that he was gone for good. Especially Naru. Seeing _that _would have made her entire _year_.

"Kanako, enough!" Granny Hina demanded in an uncharacteristically sharp tone. Kanako obeyed, smirking to herself at _finally _finding a way under the old woman's skin.

"We're here." Mr. Urashima announced as he pulled up near a block of single-room units, looking not unlike the building they had recently departed. "Say, Isn't that the guy Sis was chasing for a while, years ago?" He pointed their attention towards Seta, who had just emerged from their target.

"Indeed." Granny Hina mumbled, noting how much more distracted than normal the man looked. "Professor Noriyasu!" She called out while exiting the car. "How are you on this fine day?"

"Hm?" Seta dragged himself out of his deep thoughts and looked up. "Oh! Granny Hina. Long time no see." He blinked and noticed who else was with her. "Kenichi? I haven't seen you in years either."

"Likewise." Mr. Urashima responded without much enthusiasm. He had never had much liking for the man in the past. This was not helped by the way the Toudai professor had led Haruka on and around when they were younger, deliberately or not. "How are you keeping?"

"Oh, um, well enough I s'pose." He nodded vaguely. "And you, Kimiko?"

"Doing fine." Mrs. Urashima replied briskly.

"And this must be Kanako." Seta turned to the youngest member of the Urashima's present. "You look just how Keitaro described you."

Kanako blushed slightly. "Onii-chan talks about me?"

"Of course." Seta answered. "When we've had a lull on the excavation sites he's joined me at, he'll talk about some of the things that have happened at the Hinata. Your name's cropped up a few times." Kanako's smile grew larger. "Yep, my part-timer was always happy when his little sister came to visit."

Her smile faltered upon hearing that. _'He still sees me as nothing but his sister!' _Keitaro's adopted sibling frowned_. 'Damnit! Why can't you see me for the woman I am, Keitaro?' _Despite the talks they have had in the past on this subject, Kanako still can not acknowledge the fact that the son of the couple she was adopted by had fully accepted her as a complete member of the family, and will never see her in any other way.

"Is he up there?" Granny Hina nodded towards the building they were standing in front of, trying to get the conversation back in focus.

"Keitaro? Oh yes, he's up there." Seta stated. "We just finished moving his gear in. He's probably resting now. It's been a stressful few weeks for him." He mumbled distractedly, looking towards his van. "A lot's been happening."

"Yes, we've been discovering that." Hina commented dryly. "…are you alright?" She asked, a bit concerned. While she was aware that Seta's natural state was more than a little erratic, his behaviour now was… different.

"What?" He started, remembering that he was still meant to be in a conversation. "Oh. Um, sure. I've just…got a lot on my mind right now." He glanced at the van again pensively, not looking forward to the conversation he was going to have with his adopted daughter. "Um, I've got to be going. He's in unit 624." Seta looked as if he was going to say something else, but finally settled for a weak wave as he headed for his vehicle. Hopping in, he ignored the attempts Sarah made to get his attention as he gunned the engine and tore off up the street, narrowly missing several cars, pedestrians and buildings.

* * *

**-TAPTAPTAPTAP-**

Keitaro had just lay down to try and get in a quick nap before heading out to walk around his new neighbourhood when an annoying sound came from the door.

**-TAPTAPTAPTAP-**

Twice.

**-TAPTAPTAPTAP-**

Three times a…

Well, I think you get the point.

'_Who the heck could __that__ be?' _He wondered as he shuffled over to the door. _'Maybe Seta forgot something?' _Peeking through the spy hole, he saw a group of people he was not expecting to show up on his doorstep quite so soon. He had barely got the door open before he found himself in the middle of a group hug. "Hi Mum, Dad, Kanako, Granny Hina." He said in a surprised voice. "Come on in." Guiding the bundle of family still attached to him into his tiny unit, he managed to prise most of them off after a few moments. Though despite his best efforts, Kanako managed to stay attached to his left arm. Sighing in defeat, he let her continue to glomp him. He was somewhat used to that behaviour from her anyway. "I was going to call once I got settled. I swear!" He apologised pre-emptively.

"I know, grandson. But we got impatient." Hina replied, discretely wiping away a tear. "You are a hard person to track down, young man. It's a good thing I still have a few tricks up my sleeve." She scolded gently.

"Yeah well…" Keitaro sighed, unwilling to say anything that would implicate those responsible for his need to cover his tracks.

"Keitaro? Why didn't you say anything?" He looked at his mother, confused. "We would have welcomed you home if things were as bad at the Hinata as we have been told today." Mrs. Urashima was hurt. Did her baby think he would not be welcome if he was in trouble? Or that they would not understand?

"Huh?"

Hina explained their day to a bewildered Keitaro. "We were at the Hinata today, looking for you. Haruka had rung me earlier in the week, saying that you had resigned your position as _Kanrinin_. It took a few days for Kanako and I to organise a flight from China." Noting the interested looks she was getting from her family, she decided to expand on that a bit. "We had been wandering around the inner part of the country searching for a legendary group of springs. Turns out it was a waste of time. We found them easily enough, but they were not quite what I had been told they were. We'd been resting in a charming local village when Haruka's call got through to me."

Kanako scowled as Hina talked. Those Amazon nutcases residing near the Jusenkyo springs were not her idea of '_a charming local village_', not by a long shot. It was a damn good thing that Hina had managed to gain immunity for them both from the Amazon tribal laws while they were there. She did not want a 'kiss of death' or three following her around for the rest of her life.

"Keitaro," Hina turned serious. "I know that you had a rough introduction to the girls at the Hinata. The last time I was there, it seemed that you had gained their trust, and were getting along with them. What happened?"

Keitaro sat down on the edge of his bed and put his head in his hands. "I…dunno, Granny." He sighed as the rest of them made themselves comfortable. Kanako rubbed his back soothingly. "Naru, Mutsumi and I all got into Toudai finally. I'd told the promise girl that I loved her, although I never got a clear answer back. Naru and I settled into classes, and started our weird relationship. The others began giving me some space, and occasionally gave me the benefit of the doubt if something happened. Things were finally beginning to look up for me for the first time ever!" He shivered slightly. "And then, it all started to go wrong."

He looked up at them, deciding to let it all out. "At first, it was just little things with Naru. Sometimes I'd try to hug her and she'd hit me, like she'd forgot for a minute that we were together. At first she would always apologise and try to make it up to me." He sighed deeply. "And then, like a river going dry, she gradually stopped saying sorry. Then she stopped waiting for an excuse to come at me. After one particularly vicious beat-down several months ago, it was like a signal for the others. Hunting season on Keitaro was once again open." He gave a humourless chuckle at that mental image.

"Motoko stopped listening and started slashing. Su started throwing her mecha-tama's at me daily, to make up for lost time. Kitsune nearly wiped out my savings _twice _before I figured out how she was getting my pin-number. It even felt like Mutsumi had begun getting in on the act! I know she likes me, and that I thought she might have been my promised girl before I found out about Naru. But she's been around the others long enough to know that if she gives me a friendly kiss, or latches onto me when the others are present, that _I'm_ the one that's going to get hurt!"

Hina was speechless. She knew that the girls were strong willed, and that their respective pasts would occasionally lead them into taking certain situations the wrong way. But this!

This was a disaster.

"Keitaro, I am so sorry for what you have gone through." She bowed low to her shocked grandson. "I did not know that the girls would react to having a man in the Hinata so badly. I had thought the fact that you were _my _grandson would make them consider you in a better light than the other men they have dealt with in their lives." She apologised to a shaken Keitaro. "Please forgive my gross error in judgement."

Keitaro was distressed at the anguish he was causing his Granny. "It's alright Granny Hina. You couldn't have known." He reassured her. "There were good times in amongst all that. It's just that the bad had begun to outweigh them." He shrugged, trying to make light of it all.

"No, it's NOT okay!" Kanako shouted at him, making him almost jump off the bed and out the window. Old reflexes, and all that. "Those cows have taken their personal crap out on you for _ages_. So now's your chance to put things right. _Evict _their fat asses and turn the Hinata back into a hotel, like we always said we would." She all but demanded of her brother.

"B-b-but…"

"Or, you could always come back home again." Mr. Urashima put in.

His wife nodded her agreement. "Yes, come home with us. We'll take care of any outstanding money you owe the _Kanrinin _here. You can get to Toudai much easier from our place, and rent won't be an issue." She promised eagerly. "Please, come home with us."

"I…I…s-stop it! _Please!_" Keitaro got up off the bed and backed away from them all, putting his hands over his ears to ward off the pressure they were trying to exert over him. When they fell silent, he remained standing at the far end of the room as he spoke. "I can't go back to the Hinata. It hurts too much to be anywhere near it right now." Kanako tried to speak, but was hushed by a raised hand in her face. "And I will not consider throwing the girls out either. They have no families that they would be willing to return too. Plus, they aren't ready to face life alone yet. They still need each other for support."

"What about you?" His father asked. "Are you ready to make a go of it alone, out in the world?"

"…yes, I think I am." Keitaro answered honestly. "When I left home the first time, I'll admit to being _petrified _over how I was going to survive. I might have even given up on my dream if Granny Hina hadn't allowed me to stay at the Hinata. But, now I want to go it alone for a while. To find out what kind of person I am, away from the girls. And away from all of you, too." Seeing the hurt looks forming, he hurriedly tried to explain himself. "I don't mean that in a bad way! _Honest! _I've just never had the time to be me. I've always been hiding behind the promise, or running around trying to keep the others happy. I've never…" Keitaro struggled to find the words to express himself. "I've never taken the time to be alone. To just live for myself." He chuckled as something occurred to him. "I guess Motoko would consider it my own personal journey of self-discovery. Only I'll be staying in one place instead of wandering the earth."

An uneasy silence filled the room.

Mr. Urashima spoke first. "Keitaro? Is this what you want? Really?" He asked in a neutral tone.

Keitaro nodded emphatically. "Yeah. In fact, right now it's what I _need_."

"Very well." Nodding to himself, Mr. Urashima crossed the room and embraced his eldest child. "I'm so proud of you, my son."

Keitaro choked. "D-dad?"

His father released him and stepped back, looking him in the eye. "For the longest time, your mother and I were worried that you would burn yourself out studying so hard, or lock yourself in your room and never come out." He stated, referring to the act of Hikikomori. (_**A/N:** Checked this on Wikipedia. I'm pretty sure that this is the word I was after._) "It was part of the reason we kicked you out. We were trying to get you to grow up a little." He smiled as his wife came up and hugged Keitaro also. "And now you are doing so. I am sorry for the pain you've had to endure, but you are finally starting to become a man."

"But don't be afraid to come and visit occasionally." Keitaro's mother added. "You're still our son, and we want to be involved in your life."

"You're okay with this, mum? Dad? Really?" Keitaro looked from one nodding parent to the other, having trouble getting his head around the idea that they were going to support him in his wish to live on his own. He had really thought that he was in for a fight to convince them to give him some space. "Th-thanks guys."

Kanako, however, was caught on the pointy ends of indecision. Her brother was adamant that he would not return to the Hinata. He would also not condone any attempt to evict the girls living there, pleasantly or otherwise. Despite his easygoing demeanour, Kanko knew that Keitaro possessed a stubborn streak in him a mile wide when he sets his mind to something. So arguing with him right now on this issue was out_. 'This sucks!' _She admitted to herself as she realised that she was going to have to accept her brother's wishes on this matter, and wait for another opportunity to get him around to her way of thinking.

"Ahem" They all turned to Granny Hina.

"This is all well and good, but I still have an issue that needs addressing." The other Urashima's blinked at her in surprise.

Keitaro spoke first. "I'm sorry Granny Hina, but I'm not going back there." He stated, quite firmly for him.

"And I understand that, Keitaro. This is about the future of the Hinata, now that you are gone."

"What do you mean, Granny?" Keitaro asked as understanding bloomed on the faces of his parents.

"What she means son, is that if you give up ownership of the apartments now, it will be split amongst her three sons after she dies." Mr. Urashima responded.

"And?"

"And if Kozu and Takeda get their hands on a third-share each, the first thing they will do is sell them to which ever developer offers them the most money."

"What!!" Keitaro was shocked. "Wait! What about Haruka?"

"Haruka already has the teahouse." Hina answered. "I had hoped that with you living there, I could safely bequeath it to you. This would ensure that the Hinata and its surrounding property would remain in the Urashima family for at least another generation." Her shoulders slumped. "As much as I love _all _my children, only Haruka and Kenichi here have managed to really succeed. My middle sons, while doing well for themselves, have always craved more from life than they could afford. Or were willing to work for."

"But-"

"Think about it, Onii-chan." Kanako interrupted. "The Hinata is a large property on a hill in the middle of some prime real-estate. Can you imagine how much that would be worth to a property developer?"

"…yeah, I can actually." Keitaro answered, remembering the offers he received after word got around somehow that he was the new owner of the Hinata-Sou. He had had to almost beat them off with a stick for a few months. Eventually, it began to sink in amongst them that they were not going to convince him to sell. Letting the other tenants answer the door for him when they showed up helped. (Haruka had happily agreed to call him when she saw any of their type coming up the stairs. Motoko, Kitsune and Naru's natural behaviour towards interlopers was put to work for the forces of good. For once.) "So, what do you have in mind?"

"It's refreshing to know that you are capable of realising that without prompting. I guess you haven't been around Seta enough to be infected by his lack of common sense yet." Hina grinned at him. "First of all, the Hinata is still yours."

Keitaro looked stunned. "But…"

"Grandson, there is a lot more to transferring ownership of a property than just handing the papers to someone else." She informed him. "The amount of red tape you have to wade through to do something like that properly in the eyes of the law can drive even the strongest person off the thin edge of sanity. Not to mention the cost involved." Her smile faded as she got to the hard part. "However, the fact that you are not living on-site full time anymore could cause problems for you down the road. As you may remember, the major condition of you taking ownership was that you live there and become the _Kanrinin_. Now I know that you don't wish to live with the girls in the main building." Hina almost shouted over Keitaro's objections to where he thought this conversation was going. "_But_, perhaps you would be agreeable to occupying one of the smaller buildings, _away _from the main house." Hina sweetened the deal. "I would even be willing to pay for the cost of getting it into liveable shape. And help you furnish it."

Keitaro stopped scowling and started to consider that.

Hina continued, "It would satisfy the criteria for you retaining ownership of the Hinata _and _defeat any chance of your uncles trying to contest it in court."

"But, he'd still have to deal with those bit…the tenants." Kanako bit off the word she was going to use when all of her family scowled at her. "What's to stop them attacking him there? What's to stop the whole cycle of abuse starting again?"

"Kanako has a point, Granny." Keitaro agreed. "I left because of the way they treated me. I'm _not _going to put my head back in the lion's mouth. For _any _reason." He stated with uncommon finality.

"I'm sorry mother, but Kimiko and I will back Keitaro's wishes in this matter as well." Kenichi said, giving Hina a helpless look. "My son has been hurt enough by your plans for him. We went along with you before because we thought it might help him grow up a little. But we will not allow you to put him in danger." His face was appologetic, but resolute.

Granny Hina looked at her family, proud that they were willing to draw together to protect each other despite the fact that it was _her _that they were drawing together against. Recognising that this battle would not be won this day, she tried for a postponment instead.

"Very well. I understand." She nodded. "Keitaro, would you be willing to listen to me if I can come up with a way for you to live there unmolested?" She smirked slightly. "I don't feel any need to shuffle off this mortal coil yet, so it is not imperative that you be there. However, the longer you are gone, the higher the chance your uncles could build a case to dis-inheret you. So, Kanako and I are going to reside at the Hinata for the foreseeable future. During this time, I am going to attempt to bring the girls around." She looked at him with a twinkle in her eye, ignoring the growl coming from Kanako. "What do you say?"

Keitaro noticed the twinkle in his Granny's eye. It was similar to the one he had noticed in Kitsune's from time to time. "You have until I graduate from Toudai." He was amused by the slight expression of surprise he got from his family. "I figure that by then I will have an idea of what I want with my life. And whether that idea can stretch to include the Hinata." He shrugged, before stating the main provisos of his return. "If you can get the girls to accept that I deserve some basic level of respect, and get them to stop attacking me for the slightest reason, I will decide _then _whether or not I wish to retain ownership of the Hinata." Keitaro stuck his hand out. "Deal?"

Hina scowled. He was giving her about two years to change the personalities of several strong-willed females. This was not going to be easy. But, to keep the Hinata within the Urashima family she would have to succeed.

"Deal."

* * *

Notes: **Hikikomori**. As far as I can tell, this is a blanket term given to a wide variety of behavioural problems associated with students burning out from trying far too hard in their studies during the course of their education. The one that gets the most attention is when they withdraw into their rooms, and don't come out. Ever! 

While it happens the world over, the Japanese were the first to give it a specific name, to the best of my knowledge. But don't take what I write as gospel. As with most things, if you want to find out the truth, you'll have to look for yourself.

Also, I am pretty sure that the term 'Onii-chan' means 'Brother', or 'Older Brother'. Kanako uses it in the Manga as something _more _than an endearment towards a sibling, I believe. Like character names and other terms, it was something I borrowed from my copy of the Manga. As usual, if I got it wrong, let me know. T

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

LEAVING HINATA 3

By: Tezza1502

Disclaimer: I don't own 'Love Hina', or any of it's characters. Ken Akamatsu, TOKYOPOP®, and their affiliates do. Really. The only thing that could possibly be considered mine is the idea for this fan fic.

Notes: Crap! I just realised that I haven't mentioned where the other girls are in the educational system. Um…Motoko has finished school, and is studying for her second try at the Toudai entrance exams. Which means that Shinobu and Su are in their final year of school. Um, sorry about that. I kinda knew in my head what was going on, but neglected to tell you guys. --SLAMS HEAD AGAINST TABLE-- This is what happens when you try to do two stories at once. _--SIGH-- _I also mentioned in my Author Bio that this fic was on the back-burner. So what does my subconscious do? Vomit out six thousand words or so just to spite me! Here y'go, chapter three in all it's blandness…

p.s.: and yes, Kuro talks, just like in the manga.

* * *

A few hours after the Urashima's had left to find Keitaro, Seta had dropped a sobbing Sarah back at the Hinata. She had fled to her room before anyone could question her, and all Seta would say was that they had had a serious conversation on the way back from Keitaro's new place. With a plea to Shinobu and Su to help her through this, he had left again. But not before levelling a thoroughly disappointed look at Naru, Kitsune and Motoko.

The three of them stared at each other with something akin to shock. The Seta they knew had never looked anything other than confused and affable. Naru of course came up with a reason immediately, "I bet that pervert has been telling lies about us to him!"

Of course, once the rest of what Seta had said filtered through their consciousness', they bolted upstairs to Sarah's room to try and extract the current location of their _Kanrinin_, whether she was in the mood to speak or not.

It was not to be, however. Displaying some of the growing self-assurance she had been working on since her beloved sempai had left, Shinobu blocked the older girl's attempts to interrogate young Miss MacDougal.

"I don't think now is the time to ask her anything. She's still crying." She said firmly, standing with her arms spread across the closed door. "I'd give it until tomorrow, at least, before she'll be ready to say anything."

'_But by then Granny Hina will be back!' _Was the thought running through all three heads. They all felt that the Urashima's would begin closing ranks on the subject of Keitaro's whereabouts as soon as they returned, and were eager to avoid having to go against what they guessed would be Hina's wishes on the matter. If they could get the info they wanted out of Sarah before they were forbidden to ask about it, then they couldn't get into trouble for asking, could they?

When they looked like they were going to ignore what she had said and force their way past her, Shinobu deployed her secret weapon. "SU! Naru, Kitsune and Motoko said they'd be willing to be your guinea-pigs for that Mecha-Tama you've been working on." She yelled over her shoulder.

"Really? AWESOME!!" A jubilant cry came from within the room.

At that, the three of them stared at her in wide-eyed fear. And before any of them could think to try and call her bluff, a grinding, metallic reverberation erupted from behind them. Without looking, they bolted as one in the opposite direction. EVERY resident of the Hinata knew what THAT sound heralded the arrival of.

When they were gone, Shinobu poked her head in the door. "Good job, Su. It worked!" She congratulated the diminutive whiz kid.

"Of course." Su preened. This was child's play for a genius of her calibre.

Sarah stopped sniffling long enough to ask what had worked.

"This." Shinobu said as Tama-chan flew into the room and landed in front of Sarah. The youngster wiped enough tears away from her eyes to see…

"You stuck an MP3 player on the turtles back?" She whispered incredulously.

Su nodded and held up the device that had activated the player remotely. "Yah. Shinobu trained the flying snack box over there to go and get it when she gave it a signal. Dunno why though." She tilted her head at an odd angle in thought.

'_Just in case Sempai comes back, I want to be ready to help him occasionally.' _Shinobu thought to herself. This trick was one of many she was working on. Kitsune would be so proud if she knew that she was rubbing off on the girl like this.

* * *

By the time the older girls realised they had been tricked, the Urashima's had returned.

Keitaro's parents barely spared the watching tenants a glance as they bid goodbye to their daughter at the front door. Being mature adults, they had decided not to come in and say anything to the girls about how they had treated their only son, since any conversation would ultimately descend into a 'pass-the-buck' blame-fest. That, and they were feeling a little guilty themselves. _They _were the ones who had kicked Keitaro out of home, hence the reason he ended up at the Hinata in the first place. So, after extracting a promise from their daughter to keep in touch more often now that she was in country again, Kenichi and Kimiko bid Hina goodbye and descended the stairs to Haruka's for a calming cup of tea and a chat with the proprietor.

Watching her son and daughter-in-law until they entered the teahouse, the Urashima matriarch sighed deeply and gathered herself for what would be an uncomfortable conversation. "Girls? Inside. _Now!_" The assembled Hinata honies quietly marched into the common room, faces down. Kanako brought up the rear, burning holes in the backs of their heads. As she entered, Kuro jumped down from his hiding place in the rafters and purred a greeting at her.

"_did you find him, meow?" _Kanako's familiar asked as it leapt into the waiting crook of her arms.

"Yeah, for all the good it did us." Kanako hugged Kuro a little tighter. "All he wants is to be away from this place."

"_isn't that a good thing, meow?" _The black cat looked at her, confused.

"But he wants to be away from _us_, too." She explained, trying not to let the sniffle she felt in her throat escape. It would not do to show weakness in front of _them_.

"_oh." _Kuro pondered that for a moment_. "you can still visit him, can't you?"_

Kanako stopped in surprise. "I don't know. I…I didn't ask."

"_then perhaps you should go see him one day, and ask, meow." _The cat suggested innocently.

"Hm…" Kanako began turning that over in her mind as she walked into the common room. Blinking, she notices that some of the tenants were missing.

"Where are Su, Shinobu and Sarah?" She asked as she stroked her pet absently.

"Seta dropped Sarah off a little while ago." Kitsune answered in a subdued manner. One of the rules of being a trickster was knowing when to pull your head in when things went too far. So with Granny Hina looking more than a little pissed off, and knowing that she was a part of the reason why, the fox was behaving herself. "She's up there crying right now. We don't know why. The other two are in her room, trying to cheer her up." She turned away from Kanako to face Hina again.

"Hm." Hina nodded to herself. _'I can guess why. But first things first.' _Clearing her throat, she addressed Naru, Motoko and Kitsune sternly. "Keitaro will not be returning to the Hinata." She stated without preamble, ignoring the choked gasp that came from Naru. "As you have no doubt figured out by now, the treatment my grandson has been receiving at the hands of his tenants finally became too much for him. Considering what I have learned recently about his time here, I now understand and fully support his decision to go it alone for a while." Hina eyed the girls, daring any of them to comment. "With him gone, however, I have decided to give the job to Kanako in his absence."

_Now_ there was an outcry.

"What?!"

"No way!"

"Do you know what she tried to do the _last _time she was in charge?"

"Yes, yes I know. She tried to turn the Hinata back into a functioning Inn without consulting you." Hina dismissed their complaints with a wave. "I have spoken to her about such behaviour." Silencing them with a look, she continued, "The Hinata will be run by an Urashima. If you don't like my choice for your next _Kanrinin_, you shouldn't have run the last one off!" That effectively put an end to any protests.

"However, seeing as Kanako still has only a passing idea of how to run a boarding house on her own, I will be hanging around for a bit." Three relieved sighs escaped three panicked girls before they could help themselves. Kanako glared at them for that lapse. "I will not make the same mistake I did last time, and throw a grandchild of mine in the deep end without a chance to learn how to swim first." That comment caused the girls faces to fall again. "Therefore, I will be staying here for a time myself, to show her the ropes and _whip the place into shape_."

Kitsune gulped loudly, as she was the first to realise what, or more accurately _who_, was going to be whipped into shape. Naru and Motoko followed suit a moment later when they figured out the double meaning in Hina's words.

"As for my thoughts on your treatment of my grandson, they will have to wait until I have deliberated about today in more detail." When the girls sighed with relief, Hina slammed a palm down on the table in front of her, denting it slightly and making them all jump. "But make no mistake, I _will _be talking to you all individually about your behaviour." She added.

Seeing the fear return to their eyes, Hina nodded. "You girls have no idea what you have done! You have not only hurt Keitaro badly, you have put _your _own futures at the Hinata in danger."

"Haruka said something like that, just after he left." Naru asked fearfully. "Are…are you going to kick us out?"

Hina scowled at the selfishness on display in front of her. "You have no idea how tempting that notion is to me right now." The tenants cringed. "Despite giving up his duties as the _Kanrinin_, Keitaro is still the owner of the Hinata-Sou. As such, the final decision as to who stays and goes rests with him. And my grandson's wishes on the matter were quite clear." They all blinked in confusion.

Kitsune finally asked. "And, what were Kei's wishes?" She enquired in a hesitant voice.

Hina paused, dragging out the tense atmosphere a little longer. "That you stay as long as you wish."

Again, the girls let out a relieved breath.

"_However…_" They focused on the Urashima's again. "Your stay from now on will entail more from you than merely paying your rent on time." She glared at Kitsune specifically, who let out an embarrassed cough. "I see now that I have been far too lenient on you girls. Not enough healthy discipline, and far too much looking the other way at your transgressions. This will change. And as I have stated before, if you do not like it, there's the door." She nodded past them to the main entrance.

Deciding that she had given them enough to stew over, Hina quickly ended the conversation by claiming the Kanrinin's room for herself while she instructed Kanako to move in to the room Shinobu had prepared earlier.

Kanako fumed at this, but obeyed. She would have liked to have occupied the room under that bitch, Naru. The hole that connected the two rooms would have been perfect for wreaking all manner of vengeance upon the woman who had so callously shredded her brother's heart over the past few years.

Which is why Granny Hina had gotten in first. Her goal was to get these girls to start behaving like normal people, not spoilt little princess too used to getting their own way. Whereas Kanako just wanted them gone, no matter what the cost. And there would be a price to pay for her actions if she managed to succeed. The biggest of which being her relationship with her brother. _'Poor Kanako doesn't quite grasp that if we can grind off the sharp edges these girls possess, he will come back. And that these girls will not live here forever.' _It was a cold, calculating way of thinking, to be sure. Nevertheless, the Hinata and its surrounding property have been in the Urashima family for over a dozen generations. Hina would be damned if that ended on her watch!

Leaving the four girls downstairs alone with a stern warning to behave or else, Hina made her way upstairs to find the three remaining younger tenants. Following the sound of a child crying, she entered Sarah's room to find Su and Shinobu trying unsuccessfully comfort Seta's daughter. Between the two of them, they tried to explain the situation.

Without a word, Hina crossed the room, gathered Sarah into her arms, and began cooing in her ear while rocking her gently from side to side. "There there sweetie. He still loves you, very much. He's just doing what parents have to do, from time to time." She soothed. _'And about time, too!' _She thought to herself. While she knew the reasons Seta let Sarah get away with so much, (not all of them having to do with the man being such an airhead) children needed to know that there are limits. If the pre-teen was going to grow up into anything other than a brat, she needed to be pulled into line occasionally. _'Which seems to be a predominant theme running through the Hinata lately.'_ Hina mused privately as she patted Sarah's head.

"He…p-papa hates me!" Sarah wailed. "He said that h-he was d-d-disappointed in me! That the d-dork didn't deserve how I treated him. All sorts of things." Her tone turned venomous. "I hate him! That four-eyed ronin geek turned my papa against me, and _I hate him for it!_" She screamed, shaking with fury. "I WISH HE'D NEVER EXISTED!!"

"Do you really think that?" Someone asked.

Sarah leant back out of Granny Hina's embrace and looked at Shinobu with watery eyes. "_Yes! _That dork is always dragging papa away somewhere without me. It used to be just me and papa before he came along. Now I'm stuck here all the time while they get to go everywhere! The _others _always say how much better things would be if he'd never come here, and now I know _why_! He _always _messes things up."

"If sempai…If _Keitaro _hadn't come here, I would still be in the middle of my parents' divorce, being treated like something to be won, not a daughter to be loved." Shinobu said, shaking with barely restrained anger. She was so _sick _of everyone doing their best to tear that man apart. Her attempts to do what she was too afraid to do when he was still here, and set the record straight, began now!

"If he hadn't come here, Kitsune would be either an alcoholic, in debt up to her ears, or a single mother by now. Possibly all three. Naru would have either gone blind from reading too much, or have burnt out and gone into hiding in her room like a hermit the first time she failed her Toudai exams. Motoko would be less than half the swordswoman she is today, and probably in jail for killing the first boy that dared to ask her out! Mutsumi would be _dead_, because Keitaro would have not been there that time she nearly fell off the back of that ferry taking her home. And Su…" Shinobu faltered and looked at her best friend, "Su would be lonely, and alone, and without someone to remind her of her big brother." Shaking off the sudden feeling of melancholy, she returned her focus to a dumbfounded Sarah. "I am very glad Keitaro came into our lives. He's made this place such a wonderful home for us all. In fact-" She paused as something occurred to her just then. "Until he came here, I never heard _any _of us call this place 'home'. We never did that until he started living here. It was always just 'the Hinata', or 'that place up on the hill'." Her eyes turned to Hina briefly. "He made it…_home _for us." She refocused her attention on Sarah. "If you want to hate him for giving you a roof over your head, for being a friend to your father, for being there every single time you've needed him, _fine_! That's your choice. I can't stop you." Shinobu's eyes narrowed dangerously. "But don't you _dare _say anything like that about him in my presence _ever again_. The clothes you wear, the food you eat, the state of your room, our friendship. ALL of that is taken care of by ME." She jabbed a thumb into her chest for emphasis. "If you want those things to continue, keep your opinions about Keitaro to _yourself_. You _won't _like the alternative." With that threat spoken, Shinobu turned and headed for the door.

"AND THAT GOES FOR THE REST OF YOU AS WELL!" She yelled. The sound of running feet could be heard on the other side of the thin door. Counting to ten silently, Shinobu slid it open and exited the room into a now-deserted hallway. "Dinner will be served at six." She said coldly over her shoulder.

The other occupants stared at where she had walked out in complete surprise. No one had ever heard the diminutive cook go off like that before.

Hina recovered first_. 'Well well. I wonder if my grandson knows how badly she has it for him?' _Hina was not overly concerned about Shinobu's poorly hidden affection for her grandson. If anything, she approved. They would be good for each other, she felt. And age would not be an issue in a couple of years. Shinobu _was _in her last year of school after all. "I'm afraid that dear Shinobu makes a good point, young one." Sarah looked at her with a slight glimmer of betrayal in her eyes. "Whatever you may think of my grandson, it would be polite to keep it to yourself. Not everyone that lives here at the Hinata shares your opinion, as I think you've guessed by now."

"Yeah." Sarah's head spun to face her best friend Su. "Keitaro's fun to have around. He always finds a way to make you feel good when you're down. And he never seemed to mind it when I tested something on him." Her face grew sad as she said that. She had not realised that she might be hurting him when she played with him. For someone who prided herself on being able to figure out how something worked merely by looking at it, realising that she had completely missed the pain he was keeping hidden inside himself was a gut-wrenching concept for the young princess to consider. "He's my onii-san, and I miss him, and I…I…" Now that she was forced to fully confront the idea that she may never see Keitaro again, Su could not keep her sunny, indifferent façade up any longer. Granny Hina was forced to make room for a second distraught girl within the circle of her arms.

* * *

Dinner that night was a strained affair.

Hina had made everyone come to the table, even Sarah. The food was good, but nowhere near what Shinobu was usually capable of. However, after her earlier outburst, no one was quite willing to comment.

After dinner, Hina explained to the younger tenants what changes were occurring at the Hinata, and set some new rules down. First of all, No Searching For Keitaro! Hina informed them of his wish to live for himself for a while, and she asked the girls to respect this wish. After a lot of grumbling, they reluctantly agreed to her request. Hina resolved to keep an eye on them, regardless.

Second, _all _of the tenants were now going to help with the upkeep of the Inn. Granny Hina was not Keitaro, so her running around trying to look after everything by herself was not going to happen. Someone had to fill the gap, and she had volunteered _them _for the job. The inevitable rumblings of dissent were forestalled by Hina saying that this was the added price of them continuing to enjoy her hospitality. If they did not like it, try not to let the door hit them on the way out. Besides, if her grandson could do a major portion of it by himself, then six girls splitting the work between them should have no trouble keeping on top of it all!

"And I mean every one _besides _Shinobu." Hina clarified. "Since she already does so much around here in lieu of paying rent, I am not going to add to her duties. Kanako will be helping."

Kanako was a bit surprised to find herself included in this. She had expected her tenure as _Kanrinin _to entail nothing more strenuous than trying to find creative ways of driving these interlopers that currently inhabited her brother's birthright out. "But Granny!"

"'But', nothing. If your brother could keep this old place in top condition on his own, then I fully expect that you are quite capable of doing a fraction of the same." Hina demanded.

"…very well." Nothing could make the black-clad girl fold faster than dragging Keitaro into the conversation. The thought of him being disappointed in her was galling, to say the least.

"And Sarah? What will you have her doing?" Motoko asked. Sarah was still quite young, and not able to do much because of that.

"Oh, I'll think of something. Most likely, she'll assist Shinobu or some such." Hina mused out loud. It would be a good way to heal the newly formed rift between them, and possibly help Sarah to see Keitaro through Shinobu's eyes.

Coming out of her thoughts, she looked around the table. "I'll have a roster made up in a few days for you, so enjoy your free time while it lasts." She cackled. "Tomorrow, I will have a wander around the grounds to inspect anything that needs doing. This will include a room inspection, so be ready."

While the other tenants were not too worried, Naru and Kitsune blinked at that. They were both pretty big grubs when it came to their private quarters, and wondered if they would have time to do a clean up before Hina came around the next day.

"But for now, I think a dip in the hot springs is in order." Hina admitted enthusiastically. "It's been a long day, and I could use some time to soak my troubles away." With that, she headed out to turn words into deed.

* * *

Keitaro was using his newfound freedom to learn something fundamental. Mostly, how to relax and enjoy his own company. For the first time in far too many years, his only responsibility was to himself. No promise hanging over his head like a proverbial Sword of Damocles. No family on his back, berating him over said promise and the likelihood of him ever fulfilling it. No tenants constantly chasing after his time and attention without mercy.

It was a frightening experience for him, to say the least.

And it was only now, with his relatives gone and an empty room staring back at him, that his decision to leave the Hinata and go it alone was finally impacting fully on him.

Even bunking on his friends' couch for a month had not given him a real hint as to the powerful sense of loneliness that was threatening to overwhelm him right now. At least at Shirai and Hiatani's place, if no one was home just then, someone _would _be before too long. And before that, at the Hinata, he could count the times he had been there on his own on one hand. Now, if he wanted company he would have to go looking for it.

No one would burst into his room through the door, ceiling, or window. He wouldn't be assured of stepping out and finding someone familiar within a few moments. He was alone. His own master. Beholden to no one. Completely, utterly, totally alone.

So, for the first night in his new abode, without anyone around to exert any influence over his decision-making process, Keitaro Urashima did nothing more than lay on the bed, listen to the ambient noise surrounding him, and wonder about what the heck he was going to do next.

--

The next day, he busied himself with becoming familiar with his new neighbourhood. The first thing he did was stock the fridge and cupboard. Being introspective was hard on an empty stomach.

Next up was his search for employment. Since he had left the Hinata, he had continued working as Seta's assistant. His pay rate stayed the same, too. When Keitaro had found that out, he had objected, saying that part of his wage had been for looking after Sarah. Seta had waved him off with a vague comment about wanting to ensure his part-timer was not lured away by the other professors on campus. Having a student that wanted to assist without expecting an easy ride on their marks was apparently a rarity, one that was sought after eagerly by the other professors. Having Seta occasionally boast about how good his part-timer was at his job did not help, either.

Keitaro knew none of this. He enjoyed working with Seta, both in the field and at Toudai. To this end, he made sure that any job he got would not interfere with the chance to be a part of the occasional field trip. So he skipped from job to job, always managing to make enough to cover the rent.

_'Heh! Who knew that Kitsune would influence my work ethic so much?' _He had thought with some amusement when he recognised the pattern he was falling into. But, with his focus on his studies and remaining available for a position on one of Seta's digs, starting and keeping a full time job was simply out of the question.

Mostly, he worked in the many eating establishments that dotted the campus. Or in the library. Occasionally, Seta would loan him out to a colleague for a while. It brought in enough to allow him to build on his meagre savings without stopping the occasional impulse-buy.

Unfortunately, it did not leave him with much time to socialise. Outside of keeping up his friendships with Hiatani, Shirai and Sayuri, he did not really do much but work, study and sleep. Much the same as his life at the Hinata, really, but without all the accompanying pain and heartache.

For the most part, that is. Sometimes he would just stop whatever he was doing and reminisce about his time as _Kanrinin_. The madness. The good times. The rare moments of closeness he had shared with each of the girls at the Hinata. It would jump up out of nowhere and hit him, just how alone he was now.

Then the other memories would begin to surface and remind him _why _he had chosen this path. And he would have to physically shake them off before they overwhelmed him again.

As the time passed, he slowly began to fully appreciate and grow comfortable with his new circumstances.

* * *

In the few weeks that had passed since Granny Hina had returned to the Hinata without Keitaro, things had not been going well for the remaining tenants. With the exception of Shinobu, they were getting used to actually having to contribute to the upkeep of their home beyond merely paying rent. It was something of a shock. Even Motoko was overheard muttering about it on occasion. But quietly.

During that time, Hina had taken them aside, one by one, and spoken with them in private about what had been happening during the previous couple of years, and the effect it had on her Grandson. After these conversations, none of the girls returned quite the same as they had entered. It was making Naru nervous. Mostly because she had not been able to pry _anything _out of the other girls about what to expect.

A knock on her door one morning heralded the arrival of Hina.

"Good morning Naru." Hina said in a conversational tone as she entered the room swiftly.

"G-good morning, Granny." Naru spun around, surprised. She had been expecting her to enter the room via another entrance. "You could have come up through there, Granny. I wouldn't have minded." She looked over her shoulder to indicate the hole she had been staring at pensively.

"I know Naru. But to do so would imply a degree of friendship between us that I am not willing to tolerate right now." She said firmly, drawing a gasp from the younger girl. "How are you finding your new duties?"

"Well, um, it's cutting into my study time a bit." Naru replied uneasily. This conversation was not going the way she had envisioned. She actually wanted to complain loudly about exactly how much time her new duties were taking away from what she considered truly important, studying included. However, the previous comment removed any possible thoughts she had harboured that Hina might be sympathetic to her desires on the matter.

"Really? Well, consider it practical training for when you get out into the real world. Out there, you will rarely have the luxury of being able to focus on just one thing at a time. There will always be bills to pay, housework to do, jobs to complete, responsibilities to fulfil, and people breathing down your neck to have it all done _yesterday_." Hina shrugged. "It's a part of everyday life. Get used to it."

Naru was a bit taken back by this statement. However, Hina did not give her time to retort.

"Speaking of which, how are you holding up without Keitaro around?"

The question caught Naru off guard. She had been expecting that to come up first in the conversation, and had a speech ready. Since Hina had started on another topic, her carefully prepared answers were forgotten. "Don't talk to me about that selfish idiot! I couldn't care less how he's doing now!" She replied angrily.

"That was not the question I asked, Naru. How are _you _doing, now that he has left you?"

Still fuming, and in the frame of mind Hina wanted her to be, Naru declared angrily that she was never better. "Even with those stupid chores you inflicted on us, I've been getting through my assignments faster than ever. Now that I don't have _him _interrupting me all the time, I've even managed to get ahead for the first time since I started at Toudai. Gods, I can't believe how much that jerk had been slowing me down…" Naru continued ranting on in a similar vein, pacing back and forth in front of Hina, her hands waving around to emphasise certain points. Hina just sat through this brutal character assassination of her Grandson calmly, waiting for something.

"-so if you're asking whether I still care about the little pervert now that he's left me, I don't! That selfish prick turned out to be just like all the others!" She finished, crossing her arms defensively over her chest and facing Hina.

"And _why _are you so angry that he left you? Isn't that what you _wanted _him to do?" Hina looked up at her shocked face calmly.

"Huh?" Naru sputtered. "Just what do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I said. Pretty much from the time my grandson arrived here, and began his determined pursuit of you, you have been desperately pushing him away by whatever means available to you." Hina shushed her when she tried to interrupt. "Ah-ah! You've had your say. Now it's my turn." Naru's jaw snapped shut. "While his feelings for you were influenced by a promise he had made at an early age, from what I understand he was willing to forgo that promise if you weren't the girl from his youth. He gave you his heart, and all he asked for in return was your affection." Hina silenced Naru's attempt to interrupt with a sharp glare. "And for a while, you tried. I truly believe you did." Hina's expression softened for a moment, and then hardened again. "But Keitaro was not following the rules as you understood them. He was staying with you long after he should have given up and left. So, you set about helping him on his way."

"_WHAT?!_" Naru shrieked. "Are you saying that this is all _my fault?!_"

Hina ignored the younger girl's outburst and pressed on. "After all, he was not playing by the rules, was he? He was supposed to gain your affection, gain your trust, attempt to have sex with you, and then abandon you when he couldn't get anywhere." Hina ticked off fingers as she spoke. "Right?"

Naru's shocked expression was all the answer the old woman needed. "But he didn't. He was willing to wait until you were ready. Even if that meant waiting until after you were married." The other girl gasped. "Oh yes, if you two had continued getting closer, I'm sure he would have proposed eventually." Hina looked proud. "When Keitaro commits himself to someone, he doesn't do it by half measures."

Naru sat down heavily when those words were uttered. _'Marriage? To me? No way! He wouldn't have. Would he? Could he?' _A fainter thought appeared. _'Could I?' _

Hina shook away her own thoughts of what might have been, and continued, "So, you fell back to pushing him away in your own fashion. The others, of course, saw you hitting him again, and followed your lead. After all, you wouldn't be punishing your _boyfriend _like that unless he deserved it, would you?" Naru's eyes began to water as she realised the horrible truth of that statement.

"Sadly enough, I think he would have stuck it out with you until the bitter end." Hina shook her head at how stubborn her grandson can be. "But, something unexpected happened. He met someone who was willing to listen to him, and give him an outsiders view of the situation."

"Huh? You mean he was seeing someone else behind my back!" Naru growled, stoking her righteous fury.

"_**No**_." Hina stated with such intensity that Naru's rising anger was forcibly extinguished. "You are aware of his friend, Shirai Kimiaki?" Naru nodded hesitantly. "Well, it turns out that his girlfriend had been married once already. It was not a happy experience for her, from what I understand. Seeing the same signs in Keitaro that she used to see in the mirror, she talked with him. It took a while, but my grandson gradually began to look at what type of relationship you two had, and decided that it was not for him. So, he began making plans to leave." Hina sighed. "And from what the others tell me, you had a chance to begin patching things up with him right before the end. Why didn't you?"

"He…he didn't..."

Hina snorted. "Come now! All he asked from you was a sign that you cared about him. Just one. Was that so hard?"

Naru dropped her head, ashamed at her inability to come up with any sort of answer to that simple question.

"Which is why we are where we are now." Hina sighed. "Naru, believe it or not, but I do understand why you acted as you did. Being as sick as you were as a child, seeing the other children leave you behind to run and play without you, would not have been easy. Being torn from Keitaro and Mutsumi after becoming as close to each other as you three were at that age. Being caught between your parents while they went through their protracted divorce. Sooner or later, the most important people in your life all left you." Naru's tears dropped as she nodded slightly in agreement. "But, Keitaro stuck with you. He resisted the occasionally serious attempts by the others to draw him away from you. He even chose you over _Mutsumi_. Someone who would have given herself to him completely, if he had asked that of her. For years, he stuck by your side through thick and thin! He _loved _you. _And you knew it_!"

Naru sobbed as Hina's words rolled over her relentlessly. It was all true. And yet…

"Would it have really been so hard to show my grandson some sign of affection at that moment? Some gesture to attempt to salvage the wreckage of your relationship. Or have you become so bitter now that there is nothing left inside you but contempt for anyone who would dare to try and care for you?"

Other than to continue weeping slightly, Naru showed no outward sign that Hina's words were having any impact on her at all.

After waiting a long moment, Hina gave a resigned shrug and left the room without saying anything further. _'She was always going to be the toughest out of them all to get through to.' _She thought to herself. Returning to her room, she found Kanako waiting for her there. "You heard, I assume."

"Through the hole." Kanako nodded, pointing upwards. "Not that I mind, but why did you rip into her like that?"

Hina sighed heavily. "Despite what you heard, my intention was not to hurt Naru." Her granddaughter looked at her sceptically. "Most of the girls here have some very distorted views on what is acceptable behaviour towards others. Most especially towards Keitaro. All I am trying to do is realign that faulty perception."

Kanako rolled her eyes. "Why are you even bothering? _Ditch them _so Onii-chan can come back without fear!"

Hina massaged her temples. "Despite how you personally feel about these girls, Keitaro still cares for them. If he felt as you do, he could have easily evicted them instead of going through all this. Or called you and let you do the honours." Kanako began to feel a little giddy at the thought of being given free reign like that. "But instead, he left and asked that they be allowed to remain. Which implies what?"

Kanko grumbled something under her breath reluctantly.

Hina took this as her granddaughter coming to the same conclusion she had. "Exactly! So, they stay, and we try to mould them into something resembling normal girls who don't fly off the handle at the slightest provocation."

"Does any doctor around here give group discounts for lobotomies?" Kanako asked sarcastically.

"No. Sadly, that treatment has fallen from favour within the medical community." Kanako could honestly not tell from Hina's tone whether she was joking or not right at that moment. "Instead, we have to try and help these girls grow up a little. Because, at the end of the day, Keitaro was right about them." Hina's face softened slightly, before an evil grin crept over her features. "So, it's up to us to toughen them up a little, and inject some maturity!" She cackled. A shiver ran up the spine of everyone at the Hinata-Suo, including Kanako.

* * *

The next day found Naru, Kitsune and Motoko holding an impromptu tenants meeting in the hot springs. Kitsune was sitting next to her best friend, with Motoko seated across from the both of them.

"So yesterday was your turn, huh." The fox said sympathetically. Naru nodded slightly. "Doesn't pull her punches either, does she." Another shallow nod. "And you've been thinking about where you went wrong ever since, I'll bet." A pause this time, before Naru gives the slightest of shrugs.

"If it is any consolation, you are not alone in this." Motoko offers weakly from her position.

"An' it'll take a few days more before you to recover enough to feel sociable again." Kitsune put in.

Naru raises her head up and glares at her. "So what the fuck am I doing out here now, talking to you two?"

The vulgarity slid off Kitsune like water. "Because I've known you since high school, dummy. Once you get your pout on, it's damn well impossible to pull you out of it unless I get to you early!" She leans in closer and whispers in her ear, "And after the way you freaked me out when Seta took off, I am _not _going to leave you to slide down that far again."

Naru pulled back in shock. "Kitsune!"

The fox looked at her sympathetically. "It's true. You really scared me, the way you acted back then. I honestly thought you were going to do something stupid." Her tone easily implied what she meant when she said the word 'stupid'.

Naru was touched by her concern, and a little angry at what she was implying. "Honestly, Kitsune. I didn't like that pervert anywhere near as much as I…" She faltered, her fear of admitting to any sort of feelings for anyone rising up once again.

"I'm not saying you liked Keitaro as much as you liked Seta." Naru breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm saying you loved him a whole lot more than that."

Naru sputtered, and even Motoko went a little red in the face at such a bold statement. "Kitsune! _Really_. Where you get these weird ideas from, I'll-"

"Oh shut up." Kitsune spat. "The time for being coy about what you felt for him passed by us a _long _time ago."

Naru just looked at her friend blankly.

"At least…" Kitsune hesitated for a moment, before pressing onwards. "Do you know how _lucky _you were, having such a great guy like Keitaro chasing you?"

"What? You mean-?"

"Oh yes, Naru. If he hadn't homed in on you almost straight away, I would probably have taken a serious shot at him myself at some point." Naru looked at her with something like betrayal in her eyes. "Not just me, either. Mutsumi most definitely would have loved it if his attention could have wandered her way. Shinobu wouldn't knock back an advance from him either." Her expression was morose, until a twinkle appeared briefly. "Even kendo girl over there has looked at him occasionally with something _other _than dislike in her eyes."

Motoko sputtered a weak denial when Naru turned to her. "Well…I wouldn't…there's no way…"

"So that _naughty _little story you're working on, 'The Maiden and the Ronin', has nothing in it that could be interpreted as familiar to any situation that's happened between you and him then?" Kitsune asked sweetly. "What about 'The Swordswoman and the Scholar'? Or 'The Samurai Princess and the Priest'?"

Motoko went from sputtering to volcanic in about half a second. "HOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT THEM??"

Kitsune ignored her fury and turned back to Naru. "Motoko writes short stories now and then. She used to show them to me from time to time, just to get a professional opinion. They weren't bad, either." She smirked. "But, soon after Keitaro showed up, she stopped letting me look at them. Which was kinda like sending up a big, fat, red flare to someone like _me_." Kitsune faced a glowing Motoko again. "A new guy shows up, and you suddenly stopped showing me your work? Did you honestly think that I would let that slide?"

"Obviously not." Motoko replied through gritted teeth.

"I dunno what you're so flustered over, kiddo. They are quite good." Kitsune complimented her, easily ignoring the way Motoko's hand kept twitching as if searching for a sword to draw and smite her with. "In fact, I even photocopied them for myself."

"_**You what!**_" Motoko now looked ready to forgo the use of steel completely and strangle the fox with her bare hands.

"Why?" Naru asked quickly.

Kitsune gave her a leery grin. "Like I said, they're good." She purred.

"Huh?" Naru blinked, not getting it for a moment. "_Oooh!_" She blushed. "Are they really _that _good?"

"Uh-huh." Kitsune's grin widened. "They've kept me warm on many a lonely night. 'Specially since I know _who _the main protagonist is."

By now, all three girls were blushing for various reasons.

Naru slumped further into the water. "Fine, Kitsune. Point made. You all would have jumped at the chance to grab him if not for me. I get it." She sighed, ignoring Motoko's loud denials. "Now what?"

"Dunno." Kitsune replied. "It's not like we know where he lives to go and try to make amends, is it? And even if we did, what would we say? What would _you _say? Would he stick around to listen before he tried to get away again? And remember, Granny has told us not to search for him. Are you ready to piss her off even further by ignoring her wishes?"

"I wonder…" Naru trailed off as something from yesterdays 'discussion' with Hina danced around her brain. _'Now, what was it she said?'_

Kitsune watched as her best friend blanked out in thought. Getting worried, she was about to lean in and tweak something when Naru came back to them.

"Um…Hina said something yesterday about someone talking to Keitaro. Another girl, I think." She looked from Kitsune to Motoko. "I'm pretty sure that idiot friend of his, Shirai, was mentioned too. Do either of you know who she was talking about?"

"Uhhh…" Kitsune wracked her brain for the relevant information. _'Come to think of it, Keitaro did mention a name that day. What was it again? It's on the tip of my tongue…'_

"Sayuri Ishiguro."

"Huh?" Both Naru and Kitsune stared at Motoko.

"Sayuri Ishiguro. I believe that is the name of the person you are talking about." She repeated. "Keitaro mentioned her before you showed up on the day you two…" She faltered, not wishing to bring up that day again. And not only for Naru's benefit either. Keitaro had been rough on _her _that day too.

"Oh yeah, that's the one. He said she was dating his friend Shirai, or something." Kitsune concurred.

"Sayuri Ishiguro." Naru rolled the name around her mouth quietly a few times. "I want to meet her."

Kitsune blinked. "Why?"

"I want to know what she said to him. I want to know why he would listen to her. And I want to know why she thought she had the _right _to interfere in our relationship!" She finished with a growl.

'_Oh, this is such a bad idea!' _Kitsune thought worriedly. The possibility of things going wrong was not small.

"Tomorrow, I'm going out to Neverland to see if I can find him. If I find him, I'll find her. Then we'll have a chat."

"Count me out." Kitsune said quickly.

"Kitsune! Why?" Naru demanded.

"First of all: He's _gone _Naru! And according to Granny Hina, he ain't comin' back. Start dealing with that fact." Kitsune was beginning to get tired of Naru's self-righteous attitude concerning Keitaro. It was time to try and pull the headstrong girl back into line before she did something stupid. Again. "Second: This Sayuri woman. What are you going to do to her when you meet her. Beat her up for telling Keitaro that he might be capable of finding a life away from you? Third: _If_, and I do mean if, you manage to track him down after all this effort, what then? It doesn't matter what she said to him. What really matters is that he believed that what she was telling him felt right enough for him to call off your relationship and split! And finally: didn't you listen when Granny said not to try and find him? We're all skating on thin ice as it is. Don't go rocking the boat so far from shore!" Kitsune sighed. "Naru, I know how you felt about him, despite your constant denials. An' I know that you're only just now realising that you might have made a mistake in letting him go." She held up a hand to shush the other girl. "But, he broke up with you. It's _over_. Accept it, or it'll eat you alive."

Naru was shocked at the words coming out of her best friend's mouth. "H-how can you say that!?"

Kitsune gave her a sad, knowing smile. "Because I've been where you are right now." Rising out of the water, she made her way towards the exit, leaving Naru and Motoko behind. "I don't want to be a bitch about this Naru, but you're on your own if you continue like you are now. It's not healthy." With that, she closed the door and walked away.

Naru stared at where her best friend had been standing, feeling a bit numb. It had been a long time since Kitsune had gotten truly angry with her. "And you Motoko? Where do you stand in this?" She asked, turning to the other remaining occupant of the hot springs.

"…I must admit, I am curious to know more about this woman as well." She answered after a moment. "Very well. I will accompany you to the amusement park. But I warn you, despite how she may have influenced Keitaro, I will not see her harmed by your hand merely because you do not like what she has to say." She stated firmly. Motoko knew that Naru sometimes let her temper get the better of her, so she felt that a gentle warning was in order.

Naru shrugged. "Fine. Whatever." It was something she could work around when the time came.

* * *

It took a couple of visits, but Naru managed to find out what part of Neverland Shirai worked in. She did not make a direct enquiry simply because she had not wanted him to know that she was tracking him.

Letting Motoko know she had found him, and ignoring the disapproving glare from Kitsune, the two of them made plans to visit during the week. Naru skipped a day of Uni while Motoko excused herself from her cram school. Timing it just right, they arrived as the gates opened and people began streaming in.

"So, where is he?" Motoko asked while glaring at a group of schoolboys who were daring to gawk at her. When she brought her wooden bokken into clear view, they got the hint. She would have preferred to be wearing her sword, but carrying a weapon like that around in public usually causes more problems than it's worth.

"Well, I think he is wandering around the park at the moment, making sure that everyone is at their assigned stations right now."

"What, you mean that they gave that pervert some sort of managerial position?" Motoko snorted.

"Seems so. Guess they're hard up for properly qualified managers, or something." Naru replied. Neither of them could relate the person they sort of knew with someone who could handle that kind of responsibility. "Oh hey, there he is!" She grabbed Motoko's sleeve and pointed Shirai out.

He had changed a bit since Motoko had last seen him. While still short, he had lost a little weight, most likely through a combination of being on his feet all day and having a girlfriend who was willing to monitor his intake of food. He still had the same large glasses he had sported in cram school, but his hair was now cut. No more ponytail. He was wandering from ride to ride, saying a few words here and there to the operators, making sure everything was running smoothly.

Naru and Motoko had been tailing him for about fifteen minutes when they saw him answer his phone with a smile, then begin heading off with a pleasantly determined expression.

"C'mon, hurry up." Naru tugged Motoko along. "Now's our chance."

"What do you mean?"

"He's heading towards a quieter part of the park. There's usually not a lot of people out here early on." Naru explained. Moving quickly through the thinning crowds, they slowed down when all of a sudden they were on their own. Luckily for them, Shirai was too intent on reaching his destination to check if anyone was tailing him.

Soon enough, they saw him round a corner. Approaching it cautiously, they leant around and saw him embracing an older woman enthusiastically, who was returning his interest with equal passion. _'That must be Sayuri then.' _Naru thought. She was a plain looking woman, only an inch or two taller than Shirai. Her dark brown hair was cut into a long bob, which curled around the bottom of her jaw line. Her eyes were the same colour as her hair. The white shirt and grey skirt she was wearing showed that her figure was slim, but not curvaceous. All in all, there was nothing outstanding or enticing about her appearance at first glance. It made Naru wonder why Keitaro had anything to do with her in the first place. After living with a dorm full of beautiful women like he had, you'd think that his standards would be a lot higher than _her_. Shrugging, she began to step out from their hiding place.

"Naru! What are you doing?" Motoko whispered.

"Going to have a chat." She replied over her shoulder. She took about two steps before a hand grabbed her firmly by the shoulder and pulled her back roughly. "_Hey! _Motoko! What are you doing?"

"Try again, Narusegawa." A voice whispered in her ear.

"_Kanako_!? What are you doing here?" Shock, and a slight tingle of fear, ran up Naru's spine at the sight of Keitaro's sister.

"Against my better judgement, I'm keeping you two from doing something really stupid." Keitaro's sister replied. "And as much as I would like you two to get yourselves kicked out of the Hinata-Sou for going against Granny's wishes on this matter, if I let you talk to Ishiguro-san, the encounter would invariably lead to violence." Kanako looked over to see whether Shirai and Sayuri had noticed the almost-disturbance. They had not. "I owe her a debt for helping Onii-chan to see the truth about his 'relationship' with you." She smirked fleetingly at Naru's reaction to that statement before continuing. "I feel that keeping you from assaulting her in your futile pursuit of my brother is a way to begin repaying her for her good deed."

"Now wait a minute…" Naru started, only to be cut off again.

"Time to go back to the Hinata, Naru. You too, Motoko. Please, choose to do this the hard way." Kanako cracked her knuckles eagerly. She had no qualms about strongarming the both of them.

Seeing that Keitaro's sister was spoiling for any excuse to lay into them both, Motoko and Naru decided to give in to her request, and leave the theme park quietly.

* * *

Granny Hina was waiting for them when they returned to the Hinata. "Well, that was not the brightest idea you two have ever come up with." She frowned. "I am really disappointed with you both. I figured that you would be mature enough to respect my wishes on this manner, and leave him alone. But, since common sense seems to be in short supply between the two of you, I'm going to have to make it official: Stay Away From Keitaro Or Else!"

Naru was appalled. "But Granny-"

Hina cut her off. "And Naru, count yourself damn lucky that you _didn't _go over and talk to Ms. Ishiguro. It probably would not have turned out well." She rubbed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. "I want Keitaro back here as much as you all do. Really. But things like this are not making my task any easier."

"How so?" Motoko asked cautiously.

"Use your brain, Motoko! Knowing you two, it would have turned into an argument, to say the least. Which would have gotten back to Keitaro eventually. Which means that he would be even more reluctant to return here, seeing that you two are still up to your old tricks. And the fact that he regards that Ishiguro woman's opinion so highly will not help me convince him that you are changing for the better, either." Hina stopped. _'Damn, I didn't mean for that to slip out.'_

"What do you mean by that Granny?" Naru asked, pouncing on the slip.

"What she means, dumbass, is that Keitaro said he won't return until he is sure he will not be beaten by any of you, ever again." Kanako answered eagerly, to Hina's horror. The girls were not supposed to find out about that particular goal.

"Say what?!"

"Which means he's never coming back while you lot are here, I guess." Kanako grinned. "So there's no reason for all of you to hang around, is there?"

Naru and Motoko looked at Kanako, staggered. "_We are not leaving here!_" They roared in unison.

"So why do you insist on making it so hard for me to let you stay?" Hina put in.

Naru looked from one Urashima to the other, her internal struggle plain on her face. "I just…I want to talk to him again. To ask if there's any chance…" She trailed off, unwilling to articulate further her inner desires concerning Keitaro.

"Right, like that conversation would turn out well!" Kanako snorted. "The first time he contradicted you, he'd be sent flying towards Osaka."

"While crudely put, Kanako has a point." Hina interjected smoothly as Naru rounded on the younger girl. "You are not ready to face my grandson yet. Both of you bear wounds that are still too fresh to contemplate a meeting."

"But-"

"This is my final word on the matter, Naru. _Don't test me_." With that, Hina turned and entered the Hinata, leaving the trio standing there.

Looking vaguely disappointed that Hina had not been harsher on them, Kanako grunted her displeasure and also began walking away.

"How did you know what we planned to do today?" Motoko asked suddenly.

Kanako paused and considered what to tell them, if anything. "Oh please! You two are about as subtle as an anvil." She said finally. "All those whispered conversations you were having around the place. The increased tension between you and Kitsune. Walking out this morning together, when you usually leave about an hour apart. The signs were there that you had something planned today. We just didn't know what. I simply followed you out of curiosity. That I stopped you interrogating Ishiguro-san was a bonus." She did not mention that Kitsune had in fact come to Hina to let her know about their plans. She meant to save _that _little bit of information for a time when it would do the most harm.

"_Oh_" Motoko gaped. Had they really been so obvious?

Seeing that they were not going to say anything else, Kanako suggested coldly that if they were not going to go to their respective places of learning for the rest of the day, perhaps they should use their spare time to get ahead on their chores instead. Not waiting for an answer, she turned and left them to their own thoughts.

After Kanako was gone, Motoko turned to Naru. "They have a point, you know. Part of the reason I agreed to come along today was to keep you from possibly harming that woman if you lost your temper."

"Oh that's rich, coming from _you_!" Naru retorted angrily. "Need I remind you that you've lost it and sent Keitaro skyward more than a few times yourself?"

"I had reason to." Motoko replied indignantly.

The other girl snorted sarcastically. "Funny. When _I_ say that, people give me dirty looks."

"Just what are you trying to imply?"

"That I'm not the _only _reason he left!" Naru shot back.

Unable to come up with a ready argument to dispute that, Motoko settled for tossing her head and stalking away.

Naru watched her march off with a perplexed expression. _'What the hell is happening to us? That baka is gone for a short while, and we immediately start tearing into each other! Since when was he so important to the karma of the place?!'_

Unable to come up with an answer that she was willing to accept, Naru put it aside and got on with the rest of her day.

* * *

**Notes: **a question I am waiting for is 'how does Keitaro manage to avoid Naru at Uni?' I'll be dealing with this next chapter. T

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

LEAVING HINATA 4

By: Tezza1502

Disclaimer: 'Love Hina' ain't mine. The good Lord knows that I would have given Keitaro a normal-sized pair if it were! Instead, the whole mess can be blamed on Ken Akamatsu, Tokyopop®, and their affiliates.

Notes: I KNOW. I KNOW. I should be working on AFiN. You'll just have to put up with an update here. (Somehow, I don't think there will be too many howls of outrage…)

* * *

_**Previously, on Leaving Hinata…**_

_Keitaro got sick of being used as a doormat/stress ball by his tenants, and in a fit of common sense, moved his person out of their reach. He also broke up with Naru Narusegawa, his abusive girlfriend. Since then, he has reconnected with his immediate family. He has also reaffirmed his friendship with Shirai Kimiaki and Hiatani Masayuki._

_And now we rejoin him, five months after he split with the Hinata Honies and made a go of it on his own…_

* * *

Keitaro awoke to the sound of his alarm going off. Glancing over, he found that Sarah had wound it back a couple of hours earlier again. _'You'd think that I would have learnt to check the damn thing after she and Seta have been around by now, wouldn't you.' _He groaned to himself. Over the past few months since he had left the Hinata and moved into his current living space, Professor Seta Noriyasu had taken it upon himself to become something of an informal guardian to the young man. At least once every couple of weeks or so, the professor would either drag him out to one of the bars that dotted the campus, or simply pop around to his place for a beer.

Occasionally, he stayed long enough to have dinner with him. This usually consisted of either takeaway or instant meals simply because, being Seta, he would never bother to give Keitaro any sort of advance warning as to when he was going to drop in. The Toudai student would just get a text message that afternoon saying to expect a visitor, which would not leave him with enough time to prepare a proper meal.

After this had been going on for about six weeks, Keitaro figured that Sarah had gotten sick of being excluded from the festivities and put her foot down, because Seta had cautiously showed up one day with her in tow.

Surprisingly enough, the young girl had behaved herself quite well that first time. She was reasonably polite, did not go out of her way to be a bother, and even respected his personal things when she gave his little place the once over.

Keitaro had been at a loss before he remembered his 'deal' with Granny Hina. _'I guess the old bat is beginning to crack the whip back at the Hinata.' _He had mused, calling her by Haruka's nickname. Keitaro played along by being polite to her, and thanking Sarah when she did something nice. While it was not all hugs and kisses between them, their current relationship was a vast improvement over the way it had been when he was still the _Kanrinin _of the Hinata. He had seen them out the door smiling at how much of a change had come over the young girl since he had seen her last.

Until the next morning, when his alarm clock had gone off about four hours after his head had hit the pillow. He had also discovered that the little so-and-so had somehow managed to turn off his hot water. About thirty seconds after he stepped under the spray, naturally.

'_I guess it's not so bad in the end. She's capable of a __lot__ worse.' _He mused, wondering idly why Sarah had not let the cat out of the bag and told the other girls where he was living yet. There was no way for him to know that during Seta's talk with her that day after he had helped Keitaro move in, he had made her promise not to reveal anything about where Keitaro was to the other tenants at the Hinata. Since he was so disappointed in her already for her behaviour towards his favourite part-timer, she was willing to do promise anything to regain his trust. Including sequester information from the others.

Deciding against trying to get some more sack time, Keitaro got out of bed and poured himself a coffee_. 'So, due to Sarah being a brat, I have a several hours to kill before I have to be anywhere. Hmm…' _He mused as he slurped noisily on the bitter beverage warming his hands. _'Oh what the heck! This place needs a once over anyway. And it saves me the job tonight.' _Finishing his cup, he washed it out as a way of beginning the job of cleaning his small abode.

Two hours later, and feeling pleased with his efforts, Keitaro showered and gathered what he would need for a day at University. After a quick rummage in his closet for his backpack, (He'd lost track of time while showering, and was now running late.) he grabbed his helmet and left his unit, making sure to lock the door behind him. Taking the stairs two at a time, he reached the ground floor quickly and only slightly winded. Pulling out his keys, he unchained his scooter before standing back and admiring it for a moment.

'_Best damn thing I've ever bought.' _He thought proudly. He had signed a contract on it a couple of months ago, but already he was wondering how he had ever managed to survive without it all this time. It was only a small, 50cc scooter, but he didn't care. No more waiting for public transport. No more having to walk everywhere.

'_Although I still can't believe I let that guy con me into getting the two-seater.' _He mused ruefully. It's not as if he has anyone to offer a ride to, other than Hiatani occasionally sponging a lift off him. _'At least the second helmet was free.' _The dealer had thrown it in as a sweetener to clinch the deal.

Hopping on, he carefully pulled out into the morning traffic, which immediately reminded him just why he tried to never be on the road during rush hour. Giving a quick one-finger salute to a taxicab that had loudly taken exception to him joining the morning commute, he puttered carefully towards Toudai.

* * *

Sipping his recently purchased Mocha to unwind after his morning lecture, Keitaro glanced around briefly before returning to the hand written list of books that he would need to find. While he was a little nervous about loitering out the front of the library in the open as he was now, it was not the overwhelming state of panic that he used to come to University in. For the first few weeks after he had broken up with his girlfriend, he had been utterly petrified that he would run into either Naru or Mutsumi. By chance, he _had _almost bumped into Naru once, barely a week after he had broken up with her. Luckily, she had not seen him. This was surprising, given that he had squawked rather loudly and made a scene by frantically crawling away on hands and feet in the opposite direction. Less than a week later, he had seen Naru again, this time in the company of Mutsumi. Since then, he had made sure that he was a bit more aware of his surroundings. He had also begun changing his lecture times in a further effort to put more distance between him and her.

Over the weeks though, he had come to realise that the chances of two students bumping into each other out of the thousands that attended Toudai daily were astronomical. Which was not always a good thing.

'_It's a pity that Mutsumi took us splitting up so hard.' _He mused. He had heard, through Haruka, that the Okinawan had gone home for a long visit, and had not returned to the Hinata yet. _'I would like to talk with her. And now that Narusegawa's no longer hovering over the both of us like a dark cloud, we might actually be able to become better friends again.' _Despite her fainting spells, and the occasional beatings they induced, he did enjoy Mutsumi's company. The brief times they had spent together were some of the best memories he had of his time at the Hinata-Sou.

Draining the last of his cup and putting aside the past, he gathered his things together and made his way into the library. Time to do some work.

* * *

That afternoon, after his final lecture for the day, he headed home briefly to change before heading to his most recent part-time job as a dishwasher. The hours were long, but it was work. And the hot, moist conditions merely reminded him of the hours he had spent cleaning the hot springs, though without the inevitable poundings.

It was bearable.

Moreover, the work did not really require his complete attention, so he could spend a huge amount of time thinking about other things. Assignments, coursework, mentally planning which section of Seta's vast backlog of artefacts he would be cataloguing or repairing in the near future, shopping lists, whether he would be able to catch up with his friends soon. All these thoughts rattled around his mind while he worked.

Mostly though, he reflected on his time at the Hinata-Sou, wondering whether he was finally starting to properly recover from his time there. He had found recently that he was beginning to think of the girls in a kinder light than when he had first moved out. Motoko's grace and martini-dry sense of humour. Kaolla's perpetual delight at anything that managed to capture her attention. Kitsune's rare but genuine offers of assistance and camaraderie. Shinobu's shy but unwavering friendship. Mutsumi's unselfish support. There was even the very occasional memory of good times with Naru.

This wasn't to say that he was ready to charge blindly back to the Hinata. Far from it.

He was just becoming more willing to be civil to them if he ever happened to run into one of them in the street now. Which had not occurred yet.

Oh, to be sure, Shinobu had overcome her reluctance to enter the Hinata teashop when he was there talking to Haruka. She would join them about every third or fourth visit and sit in on the conversation quietly. He had actually teased her once about making more noise when she used to sneak up to the window next to where he and Haruka usually sat. _'She is so cute when she blushes!' _Keitaro had thought to himself after her reaction to that comment. _'No wonder Kitsune used to like getting her all flustered.'_

But, he had not bumped into any more of his former charges. Yet.

* * *

Days passed, the weeks flew, and eventually a Sunday rolled around.

"Hi dad!" Keitaro called out loudly as he entered his parent's sweet shop.

"Hello, my son. How does this day find you?" Kenichi Urashima asked pleasantly from his place behind the wide counter.

"Very well indeed." Keitaro answered back cheerfully as he placed his helmet on the counter. The seat of his pants joined it there a moment later. "The week is done, all my assignments are up to date, no work tonight and a home-cooked meal awaits! What more could I ask for?" He finished with a contented shrug.

Kenichi smiled with pride. _'He's worked so hard to get in to Toudai. I'm glad that he's not slacking off now.' _

"Excellent! Well, head on in. I'm nearly done here. Another fifteen minutes, then I'll lock up and join you."

"Do you need a hand?" Keitaro asked as he hopped down from the counter.

Mr. Urashima waved him away. "I'll be fine, Keitaro. Your mother will want to start fussing over you as soon as possible. You'd better get it out of the way so it doesn't interrupt dinner." Father and son groaned at each other good naturedly, anticipating the inevitable fuss Mrs. Urashima will whip up over her son's perceived inability to feed himself properly now that he's living on his own.

Gathering up his helmet, Keitaro made his way through the shop towards the living area at the back of the shop. Kimiko Urashima had all but demanded that her son come over for 'a decent meal' at least once a week, soon after he had moved out of the Hinata. After a bit of haggling they had both settled on Sunday as the day. Actually, Keitaro ended up having to insist on it being that night, simply because the places he worked rarely let him have any other night off.

It ended up working out well for both him _and _her. He got a guaranteed hot, healthy meal at least once a week. Plus, the leftovers his mother insisted on him taking kept him fed for days afterwards. In this way, Kimiko helped dampen down her own concerns that her son was not getting enough of the right type of food into him.

"Hey mum- _oof_!" Keitaro started to greet his mother, before a black-clad blur slammed into him from the side.

"_ONII-CHAN!!_"

"Hi Kanako." He groaned as he attempted to peel his adopted sister away from him. Without any noticeable success.

"Kanako dear, stop crowding your brother. He's here to be fed, not smothered." Kimiko Urashima gently chided her daughter.

The Urashima children rolled their eyes at that motherly comment, both refusing to point out that _she _did that more than her daughter ever could. Nevertheless, Kanako did as she was asked. "How are you?" She asked, taking a reluctant step back to look at him properly.

"Oh, well enough I s'pose." Keitaro replied, scratching the back of his head. He sort of knew the reasons why Kanako acted so enthusiastically around him, but did not like to think too deeply on the subject. Instead, he continued treating her like his sister, and hoped that one day she would finally take the hint. "I'm ahead on all my assignments, so things are pretty cruisy right now. What about you and Granny Hina?"

"Things are going well, I s'pose." Kanako grumbled. "We actually managed to turn a decent profit for the first time last month."

"Really?!" Keitaro was surprised. When he was running things, there was usually barely enough money left after all the expenses to pay his meagre wage. "How'd you manage that?"

Kanako scowled. "Since those bit… since our _tenants _have stopped throwing their _Kanrinin's _through random parts of the Hinata, the repair bills have dropped down to almost nothing." She corrected herself in time. Keitaro disliked it when she referred to the other girls in such crude terms. And _she _didn't like it when he scowled at her for it, no matter how much those bitches deserved to be called every name under the sun.

"Ah. Makes sense I guess." Keitaro shrugged. "And how are they? The girls, I mean."

Kanako's jaw fell open in shock, while Mrs. Urashima nearly dropped the plate she was carrying to the table.

"What? Did I say something wrong?"

His mother recovered first. "No dear, nothing like that. It's just that _that's _the first time you've asked after them in the last few months."

"Oh." Keitaro scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, well…"

"Are you thinking of taking up Granny's offer?" Kanako asked hesitantly.

"What? No! I'm just curious. That's all. Haruka doesn't say much when I visit her, and Shinobu even less." He shrugged. "I'm just wondering how they are dealing with everything that's happened over the past few months."

Kimiko hid a smile. _'He's finally beginning to get over what those girls have done to him.' _It was something both she and her husband had been privately worried about. That what the Hinata girls had put him through might have poisoned his heart permanently. If he was asking about them, it meant that he was starting to let go of the darker parts of his time spent in their company.

Kanako was a bit more conflicted though. Like her mother, she was overjoyed that her brother was getting over his time at the Hinata. However, she did not want him entertaining any thoughts of returning any time soon. If only for the fact that she still hadn't been able to extract the appropriate revenge against the tenants yet. _'The old bat keeps me on a shorter leash than she does that bitch, Naru!' _She grumbled to herself. "They are…well enough, I suppose." Kanako answered aloud. "Granny has them doing the chores in addition to paying rent."

"Huh? Why?"

"'Character building', she says." The younger Urashima shrugged. "Which doesn't explain why _I_ have to do them as well." She grumbled.

"Oh." Keitaro scratched his head. "Well, it shouldn't be too much trouble for the lot of you. I mean, if I could get all that stuff done on my own, then it should be a breeze for the seven of you." He shrugged.

"I guess…" Kanako trailed off, having forgotten that fact for a moment. And again marvelling that her brother had the stamina to do everything and _still _get his coursework done for Toudai. This of course led her to wondering how she could get him to expend some of that stamina on her.

* * *

Shortly, Mr. Urashima arrived in the kitchen, which was the signal to begin the meal. For the next couple of hours, Keitaro basked in the pleasantness of an evening with his family.

Later that night, Keitaro and his father were standing out on the small balcony that hung over the Urashima sweet shop, talking about nothing.

After a comfortable silence, Kenichi asked his son again how he was doing.

"Fine Dad." Keitaro responded, a little confused. Hadn't they covered this before?

"No son." Kenichi shook his head, reminding himself that his son was still a little slow on the uptake sometimes. "I meant, how are you _personally_. Within yourself."

"Oh. Uh, good, I s'pose." Keitaro blinked, realising what his father was really asking after. "I mean, it still hurts, sometimes, when I think about the girls. And it sometimes feels a little lonely at my place." He let out a wistful smile. "But…oddly enough, I can say that I am honestly having the time of my life recently. Hiatani drags me around the Uni bars every now and again. I baby-sit Hikari for Shirai and Sayuri occasionally." He chuckled. "And Sayuri has been trying to set me up with some of her friends."

Kenichi perked up at that. "And how's that going for you?"

Keitaro shrugged. "Usually I'm too busy with work and Uni stuff to bother, but I have been out on the occasional date."

'_Thank you Kami-sama!' _Kenichi shouted internally. _'I thought those harpies had completely killed off his interest in girls.' _"And…?"

"'_And'_, what?"

"'_And'_, how did your dates go?"

"Oh! Um, they were…nice."

"'Nice?'" Kenichi blinked. _'Perhaps I spoke too soon.'_

"I mean, once I got over my nervousness, and got my head around the idea that they were not going to put me into orbit for saying the wrong thing, I really enjoyed their company. I just… I still don't think that I'm ready for another relationship right now." Keitaro looked at his father apologetically, as if he had somehow just disappointed him by admitting that.

Keitaro's father felt a surge of anger towards the Hinata girls in general, and Narusegawa in particular, rip through him. _'After all this time. He still fears their memory. Fears getting hurt during what should be an enjoyable situation.' _He gripped the handrails in his hands so tightly that the wood had started creaking under the pressure. _'Perhaps I should have a talk with Mother about letting Kanako have her way with those girls.' _He growled internally.

Shifting the conversation towards less loaded territory, and giving him some more tips he had learnt back when he was younger and living on his own before he got married, Kenichi soon noticed that his son was beginning to fidget with his watch. Keitaro had decided it was time to be heading back to his place. Taking the hint, the senior Urashima present guided his son back into the living room.

"Another early start tomorrow, you know." He said as his mother tried to get him to stay a little longer. With a huff of defeat, she started piling up containers of leftovers on his bike while he said his goodbye's to the others.

"Onii-chan. May I get a lift with you back to the Hinata?" Kanako asked softly. "After all, you wouldn't want me to walk there on my own at this time of night, would you?"

'_Like she couldn't take out a platoon of marines on her own.' _Keitaro eyed her warily. _'What's she up to now?' _

"Are you sure?" Kimiko paused in her efforts to stack as many containers of food on her son's bike as she could unsafely manage. "Your father and I don't mind if you wish to spend the night here. Keitaro's old room is still made up for guests."

Kanako doggedly stayed her course. "That's okay, Mother. Now that Granny Hina has us all sharing the chores, I prefer to get mine done as soon as I can in the morning. It allows me to have the rest of the day free." She frowned. "Unfortunately, 'free' usually translates into learning more about the ins and outs of running an Inn from the old bat."

"…um, sure. Why not." Keitaro finally shrugged in agreement. "I can drop you off at Haruka's tea house on my way home, if that's okay."

Kanako bowed slightly, managing not to squeal with glee. "Thank you, Onii-chan!"

* * *

'_Why didn't I see this coming?' _Keitaro thought ruefully to himself as he puttered along, Kanako having wrapped her arms tightly around his torso and snuggled in close as soon as they were out of sight of their parent's home. To be fair, he'd never actually _had _a female passenger on the bike with him before. And now that he was _in _this situation, he was surprised that she had not tried something like this _before _now. _'It's a pity. With the right company, this could really be fun.' _He thought wistfully.

Eventually, they pulled up at the base of the feared Hinata staircase.

"Okay Sis. We're here." He called over his shoulder.

Kanako sighed, feeling a little flush. _'That was…comfortable.' _Dismounting reluctantly, she took off the helmet and handed it to him. "Thank you for getting me home safely, Onii-chan." She said brightly. Looking over his shoulder, she smirked briefly before going up on tiptoes and giving him a quick peck on the cheek. "See you at dinner next week." Bowing briefly, she bounced away from her shocked brother.

'_Oh great. Now she's trying to be even __more__ weird.' _Keitaro groaned to himself. _'Next time I see Granny, I'm gonna have a chat about this. It's starting to freak me out a little!'_ Shaking away the last of his shock and wiping away the lipstick Kanako had managed to swear over his cheek, he stowed the other helmet and remounted the scooter. With a last glance up at the Hinata, he motored away.

* * *

Keitaro's Monday started out normally, but quickly became something special.

He had been walking through one of the large courtyards at the University when he heard a very familiar voice call his name out. To his credit, he didn't run away, or jump, at the shock of hearing one of those girls again. Not even a little. Turning in the direction of the voice, he saw someone he had been hoping to see for some time. "Mutsumi?"

He was rewarded with the sight of his childhood friend's face lighting up into the sweetest smile he had ever seen. "Kei-chan!"

"Mu-chan!" He replied gleefully as he began moving towards her. His walk quickly became a sprint as he noticed the telltale signs of her beginning to faint. As always, he made it to her just as she keeled over.

After reassuring himself and everyone else who had seen what had happened that she was okay, he carried her to a grassy patch under a nearby tree and sat with her until she came around. It wasn't long.

"…ara, what a pleasant dream." Mutsumi mumbled as she awoke.

"Really?" Keitaro smiled down at her blissful expression as she came to. "What was it about?"

"Oh, I dreamt that I ran into Keitaro at Toudai…" She blinked a couple of times as she figured out who she was talking too. "Keitaro?" She whispered.

"That's me."

"_Keitaro!_" Mutsumi shrieked and launched herself at him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she latched on to his mouth and gave him a searing kiss.

To her delight and his own surprise, he barely hesitated before returning her affections just as enthusiastically.

A few minutes later, he gently eased her away from him without letting go of her. "When did you get back into Tokyo?"

"Oh, a week or two ago, I think." Her face scrunched up in thought. Keitaro thought her expression looked extremely cute. "And…I'm staying at the Hinata again." She pulled back a little further from him, not knowing how he would take that information.

Keitaro tensed slightly, but that was the extent of his reaction. "Well, I suppose it is the best _and _cheapest place for a student to stay, isn't it." He said finally.

"You don't mind?"

"Why would I mind?" He frowned in confusion. "I mean yeah, I'm not likely to drop in for a visit. But otherwise, why should it matter? You have people who care about you there. And to be honest, I think that I would worry about you more if you were staying some place unfamiliar." Seeing her confusion, he expanded on that statement, "What I mean is, if you have one of your fainting spells at the Hinata, Granny and the others would take care of you until you came around. If you were somewhere else, who knows what might happen to you!" He finished loudly, getting a little worked up over the mere thought of a situation like that happening.

"_Oh Kei!_" Mutsumi gushed before latching on to his lips again. Knowing that he still felt so strongly about her, and her safety, was _so _wonderful. And it meant that she might still have a chance at his heart.

After another couple of minutes, Keitaro once again softly pushed her away from him. "Um, I have a little while before my next lecture. Can I buy you a drink? There's a place nearby that's experimenting with a watermelon-flavoured iced-tea." He offered quickly before she could move in on him again.

"What? Oh, sure." Mutsumi dragged her thoughts away from the happy place they, and she, had been for the past few minutes. "I'm finished for the day, anyway. I was just waiting for N-" She stumbled over the name as Keitaro went somewhat pale.

"_oh_." He whispered. "She's not around here, is she?" His eyes flicked over the courtyard quickly.

"Ah, no. She's not due to finish for another couple of hours." Mutsumi cursed herself internally. They had been reconnecting so wonderfully, and then she had to almost mention _that _name. _'Ara, I will have to be much more careful from now on about what I blurt out to dear Kei-chan. He still looks so sad and scared about her.' _Setting her smile back in place, she stood up and offered her hand to him. "Watermelon Iced-tea sounds wonderful. I would be happy to join you for some, Kei-chan."

* * *

A glass of iced-tea each later…

"-and then Motoko spent the rest of the day hiding from both Su and Tama-chan." Mutsumi finished relating the gossip she could remember since she had returned to the Hinata. Keitaro had been a little surprised, actually. Usually when his friend gets to talking, the conversation invariably turns towards either watermelons, or a discourse on her favourite TV shows. This time, however, she had managed to stay focused. And more than a little entertaining as she related her tales of the others.

Mutsumi, on the other hand, was more than a little relieved that she could talk about the others without him tensing or frowning. To be sure, he had flinched slightly when certain names were spoken. And she did not mention Naru's name at all. But after the first few minutes, he had been so absorbed by what she was saying that he forgot to be anything but interested.

The sound of him chuckling lightly brought her attention back. "What?"

"Oh, I just realised that I think this is the longest we have _ever _talked to each other without anyone barging in and nailing me for doing something 'perverted'." Keitaro grinned. It faded slightly as it occurred to him to check the time. "Speaking of which, when are you due to meet up with her?"

Mutsumi blinked, before realising who _Her _was. "Pretty soon, actually." She pouted as she looked at her own timepiece. "And I'll have to get going if I'm going to meet her on time." She shrugged her shoulders apologetically before letting them slump.

"Um, okay." He frowned, unwilling to let his oldest friend leave, but not wanting to get her in trouble either. He reluctantly followed Mutsumi to her feet. "Um…"

Mutsumi, seeing him standing there with an uncertain expression, stepped up to him and engulfed him in a crushing embrace. "You never have to worry about needing permission to hug me, Kei-chan, 'cause you'll always have it." She promised into his ear as she snuggled against him.

"Thanks Mu-chan." He replied happily, enjoying the way her long hair brushed over his cheek as he held her close for the second time that day. Releasing her after a long moment, he stepped back. "Say hi to Shinobu for me when you see her. When you two are alone, if possible." He added as an afterthought.

"I will." Mutsumi agreed, somewhat reluctantly. She hadn't realised that he was still on speaking terms with any of the girls at the Hinata. _'Then again, she wouldn't advertise that fact to the others if she was, would she?'_

"Hey, maybe I'll see you down at Haruka's the next time I show up?"

The young Okinawan smiled brilliantly. "Maybe you will."

* * *

Monday turned out to be the highlight of his week. The rest of it went along as normal, and he managed to meet up with Mutsumi once more for another light conversation over a morning coffee. Although he had a nasty moment as they parted ways. For a second, he swore that he spotted his Ex out of the corner of his eye. When he turned to look in that particular direction however, there was nothing there. It left him unsettled for the rest of the day.

Friday finally showed its welcome face, and with it, a gentle reminder that his presence was required that night as Hiatani greeted Keitaro in his usual mature, friendly way. "_NOOGIES!!!!_"

"_ACK! _Getorfameyanut!!" He gasped as Hiatani put him in a chokehold from behind and grinded some knuckles into his head.

"Just making sure I had your attention." The tallest of the ronin trio commented innocently as he backed away, favouring his ribs. Keitaro had picked up a few tricks from Seta in his time, and he was not as shy about using them as he used to be. "So, did you get the night off work? Remember, you promised to come out with us tonight."

"Yeah yeah, I remember. I'm free and clear from work. Where are we going?"

"Dunno." Hiatani shrugged. Seeing Keitaro get an evil glint in his eyes, he decided to expand on his answer. "That is, Sayuri has us booked into some restaurant in the city somewhere. But I don't know where it is. So after you get changed, you're going to catch the bus to my place, and we are all going to head in together." He said in a rush. His friend had gotten out of the habit of putting up with being teased, and sometimes got a bit testy when someone tried.

"There, that wasn't so hard was it?" Keitaro grinned. It could be a trial to get a straight answer out of Hiatani some days.

"Bite me. You finished up here?" Hiatani looked around. While he was not actually a student at Tokyo University, he knew his way around. And when he hadn't been able to find Keitaro at any of his usual haunts on campus, he had come to Professor Seta's office/storage shed.

"Just about. Lemme finish off this piece." After half an hour containing broken artefacts, steady hands, lots of glue, and a constant stream of friendly bantering, Keitaro locked up the office and headed home to change.

* * *

"So, what's the actual occasion?" Keitaro asked Shirai and Sayuri. The four of them had been seated at a window table of one of the more upper-class restaurants in Tokyo. The main meal was done with, and they were just waiting for sweets.

"No-ones actually told me about why we're here." Seeing the two of them look at each other, and misinterpreting the glance, he quickly apologised. "Not that I don't enjoy spending time with my friends out on the town. Far from it! It's just that you two have been unusually secretive about the reason for tonight." He looked over at Hiatani. "You got any idea?"

"Maybe." He smirked. "But just in case I'm wrong, I ain't gonna say a thing."

"Keitaro." Sayuri leaned over the table and put a hand over Keitaro's. "It's nothing bad, or earth-shattering. Shirai and I just wanted to take our closest friends out to dinner to tell you both something."

Keitaro looked down and saw something out of place on her left hand. He realised what it was just as Shirai spoke up.

"Sayuri and I are engaged." He beamed. "I asked her to marry me a few days ago, and she said yes."

The Toudai student looked from one to the other, stunned. "Really?"

Sayuri blushed. "Yeah. The big goof dragged me out to that park across from his place, found a quiet corner, and actually got down on one knee." She looked at him fondly, making him squirm a little. "Nothing too flash. No big production. He just sweated and stuttered his way through a very sweet speech." Leaning over, she planted a heart-felt kiss on him.

The three men at the table knew why such a low-key proposal thrilled her so much. Her first husband had made a huge production when he had asked her. It was flashy, expensive, and very public. Looking back, Sayuri had also realised that there was no real feeling behind it, just a need to show off to his mother and her friends. So something from the heart was always going to touch her deeply. And Shirai had managed it perfectly.

"I still don't know when he asked my parents for their permission. He even asked Hikari if she was okay with it."

"Yeah, well…" Shirai was ready to melt into a puddle from the sultry looks he was receiving from his new fiancée. A polite cough from the other side of the table drew their attention back to their friends.

"_Congratulations!_"

"_About damn time!_"

Hiatani and Keitaro both stood and came around the table, grabbing one of the new couple each and hugging them fiercely before swapping and repeating their actions.

"So, have you set a date yet?" The question was asked after they were all seated again.

"Ah, it won't be for a couple of years yet. I just want to nail her down so she won't be tempted to trade up." Shirai answered and teased at the same time.

Sayuri leaned over. "Not a chance. You're all mine." She whispered sweetly.

Her fiancée closed the space between them. "And you're mine." Their lips met for a prolonged moment.

Hiatani and Keitaro watched the display, feeling equal parts happiness and annoyance towards the couple.

"Should we throw a bucket of cold water over them?" The two-time ronin asked, _sotto_-voice.

"Give 'em a couple more minutes." The three-time roninreplied. "If they haven't come up for air by then, all bets are off."

* * *

Eventually, the four friends ended up in one of Tokyo's many nightclubs, dancing their hearts out. Sayuri and Shirai were lost in each other's eyes, slow dancing in the middle of the floor despite the tempo of the current song being played. Hiatani was trying his luck with the various single ladies, while Keitaro was content to stay to the side and nurse a drink.

'_Damn, they look happy.' _He thought as he watched the couple swaying gently together. _'I wonder if I'd be in their shoes by now if I had chosen someone other than Naru to focus on at the Hinata?' _Having consumed a few more drinks than he had intended to so far, he decided to pursue that thought. _'After all, I know that most of those girls have looked at me with something other than disgust in their eyes on more than one occasion.' _He began ticking off fingers. _'Mutsumi has never been shy about letting me know that I have a chance. During that duel with her sister, Motoko seemed to think of me as a human being worthy of attention, and not just 'a male'. Even Kitsune's seriously flirted with me once or twice, without trying to get money or a favour out of me. Su…well, Su's Su. I could never get a handle on when she was being serious, even after all this time. And Shinobu…' _His train of thought almost derailed right there, but he was just drunk enough to continue, _'Shinobu is __almost__ out of school now, so she's __almost__ safe to think about.' _Keitaro blinked, not quite believing that he was thinking what he was thinking.

'_Okay. Need to get drunker. Need to wash away those thoughts. Right now!' _He reasoned. Standing up suddenly, he almost head butted Hiatani as the other man tried to sneak up on him. "Drinks!"

"What?" Shirai shouted over the music.

"Who wants another drink? My shout!" Keitaro demanded.

"Done!" Hiatani immediately took the offer.

Shirai and Sayuri looked at each other and shrugged. "Sure."

After taking their orders, Keitaro made his way towards the bar trying to keep who wanted what straight in his head. Suddenly, a feminine voice cut through the loud music. "K-Keitaro?"

Upon hearing his name, he spun around curiously, trying to locate the female calling out his name in such a shocked yet pleased tone. Locating her, his eyes flying wide open in disbelief. "You…"

* * *

Notes: what's been happening back at the Hinata while all this was going on, I wonder…

* * *


End file.
